Shakara Dickens Admits To Killing Daughter
(Memphis) “Her eyes opened and her tongue was sticking outside her mouth,” said Shakara Dickens on the stand.
In shocking detail, Dickens described how she murdered her own child, “As I was holding her, I put my hand over her mouth and nose and she passed out and I realized what I was doing and I stopped.”
a few seconds later, Dickens said she did it again: held her right hand over her 9-month-old daughter’s mouth and nose until the child’s body went limp.
Dickens said she wrapped the baby’s dead body in a towel and then, “I put her in the garbage.”
The confession came after months of stories Dickens made up, like she had given the child away, giving some hope the child could still be alive.
“And we sort of have our answer at this point,” said Prosecutor Jennifer Nichols.
Nichols said she worked out a deal with Dickens on Monday, she confesses and would get a concurrent sentence.
Dickens will now serve 19 years for second degree murder, aggravated neglect and filing a false report.
She could have served consecutive sentences and been locked-up until she was about 75 years old.
“I don`t think she is a cold-blooded killer,” said Defense Attorney Murray Wells. “I think emotionally she didn`t recognize the seriousness of what she did.”
“I don`t know what happened,” said Dickens. “I just started crying.”
Dickens said she doesn’t know why she did it but that she was upset that day in 2010 because she didn’t have a ride to take her daughter to day care and she needed to get to work at Walmart, “I don`t know what I was thinking.”
Whatever the reason, the prosecution and defense agreed that the confession will bring closure to the case and to the people who cared about what happened to this the little girl.
Although the judge sentenced dickens to 19 years, her defense attorney believes she will actually serve only 85 percent of her sentence and get out when she is 35 years old.
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