(CMR) A 10-year-old girl who was arrested on a murder charge after fatally shooting a woman fighting her mother in Florida will stay in custody despite pleas from her father for her to be released to him.
The girl was arrested Tuesday and faces a second-degree murder charge. The child's mother and the woman were reportedly fighting when she shot the woman twice on 30 May, yelling, “she shouldn't have hit my momma.”
She was placed in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families, and her mother was also arrested.
The girl's attorney asked the judge to release her on an ankle monitor to her father's custody, arguing that she was being “severely traumatized” in the juvenile detention center.
The judge, however, ruled that the girl would remain in custody for the next three weeks.
“She has absolutely no record. She is a severely traumatized 10-year-old. The juvenile detention center was not set up to take care of kids this young,” her defense attorney said.
The girl's father, Dewan Dennis, also made a passionate plea to the judge for her release into his custody, stating that she would be under constant adult supervision.
“I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that my daughter gets all the help that she needs,” Dennis said. “I've already bought coloring books, stuff to occupy her time.”
The girl's mother faces charges of manslaughter by culpable negligence, aggravated assault with a gun, negligent storage of a gun, and neglect of a child from the incident.
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