Another case that I missed updating while on vacation.....
Antoinette Davis accepts plea deal, gets at least 17 years for death of 5-year-old daughter ShaniyaPublished: 11:18 AM, Sat Oct 19, 2013
By Michael Futch
Staff writer
Antoinette Davis, her head bowed and her face wet with tears, apologized in the courtroom Friday after accepting a plea deal that will send her to prison for at least 17 years for the murder of her daughter Shaniya.
Davis, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, first-degree sex offense and other charges after a judge ruled that, at her Oct. 28 trial, prosecutors could use the incriminating statements she made to police.
In those statements, Davis admitted giving her 5-year-old to Mario McNeill so he could have sex with her to settle a $200 debt. Six days later, in November 2009, Shaniya's body was found dumped in woods off N.C. 87.
Davis faced life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. But Friday afternoon, during a motions hearing in Cumberland County Superior Court, she accepted the plea and apologized to Shaniya's father, Brad Lockhart.
"I want to say I did what I could as a mother," Davis said. "... I was there to protect my daughter. He knew that. And I knew he felt the same way himself."
...more at linkhttp://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/10/18/1290447