A woman, formerly of Charleston, has been charged with capital murder in the 2016 death of her 8-day-old infant daughter.
Jocelyn Camille McLean, 26, of 6848 S. Lakewood Terrace, Douglasville, Georgia, was arrested May 30 after turning herself in at the Tallahatchie County Jail in Charleston. She was transferred later that day to the Tallahatchie County Correctional Facility in Tutwiler, where as of Tuesday she was being held without bond.
Indicted April 16 by a Tallahatchie County grand jury for the 1st Judicial District, a warrant had been issued for her arrest.
The woman is accused of causing the Sept. 21, 2016, death of Emberly McLean while “engaged in the commission ... of felonious child abuse.”
Steven Jubera, assistant district attorney for the 17th Circuit Court District, said Tuesday that an autopsy performed on the baby determined the cause of death to be “head trauma with features of strangulation.”
On that fateful day, Jubera said the baby’s mother, father and another relative reportedly drove her in a private vehicle from a Charleston residence to the emergency room at Tallahatchie General Hospital, where medical personnel tried but were unable to stabilize the infant for transfer to a Memphis medical facility.
The prosecutor said an autopsy was performed the next day, but he noted it was not until “a year or two” later, after release of the official autopsy report by a backlogged state crime lab in Pearl, that officials learned the baby’s death was due to unnatural causes.
The assistant DA said a lengthy investigation ensued, led by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Tallahatchie County Sheriff’s Office. The mother and other witnesses had moved out of state and had to be tracked down, he noted.
The results of that investigation were presented to the local grand jury for consideration in April. As a result, charges were formally brought against McLean.
Jubera said the case should be set for trial in Tallahatchie County Circuit Court during the last week of September or the first week of October.
Prosecutors are allowed to charge capital murder in the case because of the allegation that the baby’s death — whether intended or not — occurred as a result of injuries sustained during the commission of felony child abuse.
Persons convicted of capital murder may be sentenced to the death penalty or life imprisonment, with or without the possibility of parole.
IN THE PHOTO: Jocelyn Camille McLean is charged with capital murder in the death of her 8-day-old daughter. (Photo special to The Sun-Sentinel)
