Plea Is Guilty in Girl’s Death
The owner of a National City day-care center pleaded guilty Thursday to voluntary manslaughter in the death of a 2-year-old girl under her care.
Jacqueline M. Piper, 34, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter count the day her trial was scheduled to begin after prosecutors agreed not to pursue murder charges.
Tiffany Murrell died April 27 after suffering injuries at Piper’s in-home facility. The child died from massive internal bleeding after her liver was almost split in two.
The cause of the injuries will probably never be known.
Piper gave conflicting stories about how she took her anger out on the child, who had apparently wet herself. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing in June, Piper admitted to investigators that she struck the child in the abdomen, but “I should’ve been jumping on her like this and saying, ‘Tiffany, you get on my nerves.’ ”
Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Madruga said Piper will receive the maximum penalty for the crime--11 years in state prison--when she is sentenced Oct. 13 by Superior Court Judge Charles R. Hayes.
The prosecutor said a second-degree murder conviction would’ve meant a sentence just four years longer.
Piper, who has three children of her own, remained free after posting $50,000 bail. Her day-care center has been shut down by state officials.
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