In Michigan, a mom has denied being responsible for the murder of her child, who was believed to have been starved to death in 2020, a plea deal that may have resulted in a 10-year term was rejected by the 29-year-old defendant, who subsequently fired her court-appointed lawyer after claiming innocence.

Shantavia Hayden pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder in the death of her 3-month-old baby, Amira Hayden, in Macomb County Circuit Court on Thursday, according to the Macomb Daily.

Mom Rejects Guilty Plea in Daughter's Death

Hayden filed a not guilty plea during a pre-trial Zoom hearing before District Judge James Biernat, during which time she reportedly expressed her displeasure with Randy Rodnick, her court-appointed defense counsel. According to Rodnick, who stood in person for the hearing, attorneys from the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office had approached him with a possible plea deal in which Hayden would be sentenced to 10 years in prison if she pleaded guilty.

Hayden reportedly expressed her dissatisfaction with the offer, telling Judge Biernat that pleading guilty was "out of the question." Hayden's dissatisfaction with the prosecutors' proposed plea deal grew, and she eventually told the court that she wanted Rodnick fired and a new defense attorney assigned to her upcoming murder trial.

Judge Biernat allegedly "reluctantly" decided to allow Hayden to replace Rodnick with a public defender from the county office after meeting with Rodnick and Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Colleen Warden. Judge Biernat also pushed up the start of the trial from March 1 to May 3 to give the potential substitute defense counsel time to brush up on the grisly specifics of Hayden's case.

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Another Michigan Mom Blames Spongebob for Urging Her To Kill Daughter

Meanwhile, a Michigan mom whose 3-year-old daughter was discovered dead in a garbage bag told authorities that Spongebob instructed her to murder the kid or face death herself. On Sept. 16, two days after the child's third birthday, Justine Johnson, 22, reportedly stabbed Sutton Mosser numerous times before placing her body into a black garbage bag because she was hallucinating due to weeks of heroin withdrawal and lack of sleep.

She's been charged with first-degree child abuse and criminal homicide. During the preliminary hearing into the case on Friday, Ryan Eberline, a Child Protective Services investigator, testified. On the day of Sutton's death, according to MLive, Johnson told Eberline that she had left her mother's Oscoda Township home and passed out in a graveyard on the day she was slain.

After that, she said, she went back to her mother's house and tried to commit herself before killing her daughter. MLive said that Johnson sobbed as she was carried into the courthouse in chains and cried throughout the proceedings. Knesley Johnson Jr., Johnson's brother, was brought to testify as to the prosecution's first witness.

Knesley Johnson stated that he had left for work about 2:30 p.m., on Sept. 16 and that he hadn't seen his sister or niece since he'd left. On Sept. 17, about 3:30 am, he asked his brother where his sister and Sutton were when he got home from work. Johnson said that when the 17-year-old brother walked to the rear of the house to look for them, he stated he spotted a human child's foot protruding out of a bag.

On Friday, the brother, who was not identified owing to his age, testified as well. In the toilet at 6 a.m., on Sept. 16, he bumped across his sister, whom he claimed appeared as if Johnson had been "doing lines" of cocaine, but he wasn't sure. According to the adolescent, he asked about Sutton's whereabouts. Justine Johnson left the house shortly after the incident to approach a red car that had stopped at a business across the street, according to the brother.

Afterward, he stated that she went out again but came home shortly after. In the evening, he went to the beach and came home at 10 p.m., saying that no one was home, Law & Crime reported.

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