THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040522
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 38 lines
The mother of a 2-year-old girl was convicted Thursday for leaving her child at home alone on the day the girl's stepfather later beat her to death.
The mother, Sisha T. Harris, 27, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse and neglect of her daughter, Asia N. Jenkins, who died Feb. 12, 1994. Circuit Judge Russell I. Townsend Jr. set sentencing for Dec. 10. Harris faces up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Harris originally was charged with felony child abuse and neglect but pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor. At one point in the police investigation, she was charged with murder, but that charge later was dropped.
Timothy Harris, the child's stepfather and Sisha Harris' husband, was convicted of second-degree murder and child abuse and neglect last month. During his trial, Sisha Harris cried as she recounted the events of the day her daughter died.
She said she had seen her husband several times during the day, although she was working a 24-hour shift at the Coast Guard base.
The mother said she assumed her husband was watching her daughter. Yet, at one point during the day, she went home and found the child perched in front of the television, watching cartoons with a bowl of cereal in front of her. Timothy Harris was not around. The mother left her child and returned to work.
Her husband later joined her for dinner but did not have the child with him, she testified. The mother said she did not ask where the child was. About 9:15 p.m., he called her at work to tell her the child did not feel well. The mother recommended children's Tylenol and warm milk.
By 10:30 p.m., he had called paramedics and they found the child badly beaten. She was dead on arrival at the hospital. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Sisha T. Harris left her daughter home alone on the day the child's
stepfather beat her to death. by CNB