Carlotta Pierce, mom of dead,malnourished child force-fed child sleeping pills: prosecutor
BY Erica Pearson AND Larry Mcshane
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Saturday, September 4th 2010, 5:50 PM
A malevolent mom lashed her 18-pound daughter to a bed after the morbidly malnourished girl made a mess while grabbing a midnight snack, authorities said Saturday.
Carlotta Pierce, after tying down the frail 4-year-old, force-fed her sleeping pills to halt her "wild" behavior - raiding the family fridge, said Brooklyn prosecutor Tracey Downing.
"The mother tied up the child because she would get up in the night and eat food ... and make a mess," Downing said at a hearing.
A witness told police that Pierce had battered tiny Marchella Pierce with a belt and a plastic video case, drawing blood from the helpless girl, according to a criminal complaint.
The 30-year-old mother - ordered held yesterday on $300,000 bail - "did repeatedly strike Marchella Pierce about the body," the complaint charged.
The witness told cops that the doomed daughter suffered bruises from her head to her legs, most likely from blunt force trauma, the complaint said.
But it was the girl's "state of malnutrition" that put her at "a grave risk of death," the complaint charged.
Pierce, wearing a peach-colored hooded sweatshirt and jeans, smiled at her mom and brother when she was led into the courtroom.
She has insisted on her innocence, telling reporters on Friday, "I did not kill my baby!"
But officials provided chilling new details about the girl's final hours in a squalid Brooklyn apartment.
On Sept. 1, the day before the little girl's death, Pierce grew angry with Marchella and tied her down on the bed over the late-night snacks.
The witness told police that Pierce "repeatedly beat the child" - and a bloody video box was found in the garbage at the apartment.
The suspect is currently charged with assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child after an initial autopsy on her daughter was inconclusive.
Police sources said an upgrade in charges was possible as the investigation continues.
"She's not charged with homicide," said court-appointed defense lawyer George Sheinberg. "The autopsy did not indicate any kind of trauma ... at this point it is extremely inconclusive."
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