BUFORD, Ga. — A woman in Buford accepted a plea deal Tuesday to serve 20 years probation following the death of her 5-year-old daughter, who weighed just 7 pounds at her passing due to a rare medical condition, court documents show.
The parents of Kylie Mickens were arrested for her death in August 2020. Police charged the two with felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children, authorities said.
RELATED: She was 5 years old and weighed just 7 pounds. Months later, her parents are charged with murder
Jerrail Maurice Mickens, 31, and Porscha Danielle Mickens, 29, were out on bond in November 2020 after saying their daughter suffered from 1p36 deletion syndrome, a rare chromosome disorder with several complications "swallowing difficulties," according to the National Institute of Health.
"She has a hard time eating," Corinne Mull, their attorney, said. "Everything has got to be liquefied into an oatmeal-like consistency. Has a hard time swallowing water - that has to be in the food."
In 2021, Jerrail Maurice Mickens died in a motorcycle crash, and the case continued with Porscha Mickens.
Mull said that family, friends and nurses came to Porscha Mickens' court appearance to tell the judge about her daughter's disorder and plead for them to think carefully about the sentence.
The court wanted Porscha Mickens to serve 25 years in prison, but she took a deal to do 20 years on probation for the second-degree murder of her 5-year-old daughter.
Kylie died in 2020, a day after her parents brought her into Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton for treatments; officials said she was unresponsive.
At the medical center, they said she only weighed 7 pounds, the weight of a newborn. The center flew Kylie to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta - Scottish Rite Hospital.
Given her condition, the Hall County Division of Family and Children Services and investigators with the sheriff's office was notified.
A day later, Kylie died. Mull told 11Alive in 2020 that doctors didn't expect the girl to live past three years old.
"So they kept (Kylie) alive two years longer than her expected life span," Mull said.
Several claims were made that there were reports of neglect in the home, but Mull said that was not true. And Mull said the couple routinely took their daughter to doctors, including specialists - 15 of them.
"But that was not enough," Mull said. "The state, the hospital wanted more."
Mull said on Tuesday that Porscha Mickens is relieved and grateful for the sentence, adding that she went outside and joined a prayer circle immediately. Porscha Mickens still has custody of her other children and is working with her mother-in-law to raise them, given the recent death of her husband.