Jury selection began Monday in DeKalb County Superior Court for a mother indicted on manslaughter charges for allegedly leaving her three young children trapped in a bedroom where two died during a fire.
Police originally charged Angel Johnson and Keith Pinkney with felony counts of child cruelty and lying to police in December 2010 when 4-year-old Aliyah Quarles and 3-year-old Devyn Quarles died and the 2-year-old was hospitalized with burns.
But a DeKalb County grand jury added multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter charges on the theory that the couple’s negligence caused the deaths.
Prosecutors said Pinkney, 27, and Johnson, 32, locked the children in their room and went to a fast-food restaurant late in the evening, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said a fire, likely started by a space heater, ignited in the children’s room around 11 p.m.
Court officials expected jury selection to continue most of Monday.
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