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325-pound woman charged with killing girl by sitting on her

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325-pound woman charged with killing girl by sitting on her
News

News

325-pound woman charged with killing girl by sitting on her

2017-10-18 12:41 Last Updated At:12:41

A 325-pound (150-kilogram) Florida woman is charged with killing her 9-year-old cousin by sitting on the child as punishment.

This Oct. 14, 2017 photo made available by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, Fla., shows Veronica Green Posey under arrest. Posey is charged with killing her 9-year-old cousin by sitting on the child as punishment.

This Oct. 14, 2017 photo made available by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office, Fla., shows Veronica Green Posey under arrest. Posey is charged with killing her 9-year-old cousin by sitting on the child as punishment.

Veronica Green Posey, 64, was arrested and charged with homicide and cruelty toward a child, The Pensacola News Journal reported. The Escambia County Sheriff's Office report identified Posey as the girl's cousin.

Paramedics and deputies responded to the family's Pensacola home following a 911 call Saturday. Posey told deputies she sat on Dericka Lindsay as discipline "for being out of control."

During the punishment, Dericka told Posey and two other adult relatives, who are identified in the report as the girl's parents, that she couldn't breathe. When Posey got up, Dericka wasn't breathing. Authorities said Posey called 911 and started CPR on the child.

The arrest report said Grace Joan Smith, 69, and James Edmund Smith, are charged with child neglect.

Grace Smith called Posey, who is her niece, to her house to help with disciplining the girl, according to the report. She told investigators that Posey hit the girl with a ruler and metal pipe before the child ran to an armchair.

James Smith told investigators that Posey sat on the girl for about 10 minutes before she complained she couldn't breathe. She stayed on the chair for an additional two minutes before getting up, he said.

Mike Carroll, secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, issued a statement that called the child's death "appalling." He said the agency will work with the sheriff's office to hold those responsible for her death accountable.

"As the family has a prior interaction with the child welfare system, a thorough quality assurance review will be conducted to review all prior interactions this family has had with the child welfare system," the statement said.

Posey was released Monday on $125,000 bail. The Smiths remained in jail, with Grace Smith's bond set at $75,000 and James Smith's bond at $50,000. Escambia County jail records didn't list an attorney for Posey or the Smiths.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas said Tuesday his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction.

"He himself is giving different stories," attorney Carl Arnold told reporters outside a courtroom following a brief status check with his client, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, in front of a Nevada judge. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 4.

“We haven’t seen more than just his word,” Arnold said of Davis' police and media interviews since 2008 in which prosecutors say he incriminated himself in Shakur's killing — including Davis' 2019 tell-all memoir of life leading a street gang in Compton, California.

Prosecutor Binu Palal did not immediately comment outside court about Arnold's statements. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said evidence against Davis is strong and it will be up to a jury to decide the credibility of Davis' accounts.

Arnold said his client wanted to make money with his story, so he embellished or outright lied about his involvement in the car-to-car shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight at a traffic signal near the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996.

Knight, now 59, is serving 28 years in a California prison for killing a Compton businessman with a vehicle in 2015. He was not called by prosecutors to testify before the grand jury that indicted Davis last year.

Arnold said Davis will not testify at trial, but he intends to call Knight to testify. The defense attorney said police and prosecutors lack proof that Davis was in Las Vegas at the time of Shakur's killing, and don’t have the gun and car used during the shooting as evidence.

“We’ve seen video of everybody else here. Where’s video of him?" Arnold said of Davis. "There’s just nothing saying that he was here.”

Davis has been jailed on $750,000 bail since his arrest in September. Arnold said Tuesday that Davis has been unable to raise the 10% needed to obtain a bond to be released to house arrest.

Davis, 60, is originally from Compton. Police, prosecutors and Davis say he is the only person still alive who was in the car from which shots were fired.

Davis pleaded not guilty in November to first-degree murder. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

In his book, Davis wrote that he was promised immunity from prosecution when he told authorities in Los Angeles what he knew about the fatal shootings of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace six months later in Los Angeles. Wallace was known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls.

Shakur had five No. 1 albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted in 2017 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He received a posthumous star last year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This story has been updated to correct that Marion “Suge” Knight is in prison for killing someone with a vehicle, not a fatal shooting.

FILE - Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996. The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996, in Las Vegas, said Tuesday, April 23, 2024, his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)

FILE - Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996. The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996, in Las Vegas, said Tuesday, April 23, 2024, his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, appears in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, appears in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, center, and his attorney Carl Arnold, right, appear in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, center, and his attorney Carl Arnold, right, appear in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

District Court Judge Carli Kierny presides over a status hearing for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

District Court Judge Carli Kierny presides over a status hearing for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, right, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, right, listens to his attorney Carl Arnold during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, right, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, right, listens to his attorney Carl Arnold during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, is led into the courtroom during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, is led into the courtroom during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

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