Judge halts trial of mom accused of locking daughter in closet
Jurors, lawyers due back Wednesday to determine how to proceed
The trial of a mother accused of locking her 10-year-old daughter in a closet was placed on hold Tuesday due to concerns of the defendant's competency.
Jacole Prince, 32, is charged with first-degree assault, child abuse and endangering the welfare of her child.
Police found Prince's daughter in a closet in her Kansas City apartment in June 2012. The 10-year-old girl weighed just 32 pounds, a typical weight for a toddler.
The girl, known in court documents as LP, took the stand Tuesday morning and testified that her mother was the only person who ever put her in the closet. She said she would knock when she needed to use the bathroom, but her mother didn't always come for her. She said when she went to the bathroom in the closet, she could get into more trouble.
LP also said she sometimes spent days in the closet without lights and no regular food.
Now 14, she is still dealing with the effects of her ordeal. She is in special education classes and is small for her age and behind in school. She had a heart transplant two years ago.
LP hardly looked at Prince during her short time on the stand.
When LP was finished, Kansas City police Detective Robert Roubal said what the girl told him after she was released.
"She stated that she hadn't been let out for a couple days," he said. "There was another child's bed that was pushed in front of the door so she couldn't get out.
He said the clothes he recovered after LP's rescue were filthy and smelled of urine.
Prince returned from lunch break Tuesday and began crying in the courtroom. The judge dismissed the jurors for the day and ordered them to come back in the morning.
The judge also ordered Prince and the lawyers to come back to discuss how to proceed.
"I'll be ready to talk to you at some point and let you know either we're going to come down and carry on with the evidence or something else is going to happen,," Judge J. Dale Youngs told the jurors.
Prince's former boyfriend pleaded guilty to child abuse charges in the case. He was given probation but has since been jailed for violating that probation.