Couple Convicted Of Abuse In Death Of Baby Girl Who Ate Morphine Pill
MOUNT CLEMENS (WWJ/AP) - A jury has convicted a Macomb County couple charged with child abuse after their 11-month-old daughter died from eating a morphine pill.
The Detroit Free Press reports the jury deliberated several hours, starting Thursday afternoon, in Macomb County Circuit Court before reaching a verdict Friday on charges of second-degree child abuse.
Harold and Kimberly Murphy were charged in the October 2013 death of Trinity Murphy.
Prosecutors argued the couple committed the "reckless act" of maintaining an extremely messy house that allowed the child to ingest the pill that was intended for her recently deceased grandmother.
The couple's attorneys say unclear how the child got the pill. Kimberly Murphy told police it was "very likely" her mother had dropped the pill on the floor where Trinity later found it.
"The reckless act is that their house is a pigsty," said Yasmin Poles, an assistant Macomb County prosecutor. "It's a reckless act because their child is dead. They were supposed to make sure the child was not given access to the room where the grandmother died."
The jury listened to testimony and looked at pictures of the Sterling Heights home that was described by a police detective as filthy.
The couple lost their parental rights of their four other children following a trial before different judge. That decision has been appealed.
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