Tata's former juvenile detention supervisor, Richard Sizemore, told the jury that Tata was written up 13 times, mostly for refusing to follow directions and disruptive outbursts, while she was in the Juvenile Detention Center for three months.
Tata did not take the stand in her defense. Defense attorney Mike DeGeurin said he has not decided if Tata will testify in the punishment phase.
Tata faces three additional counts of murder, three counts of abandoning a child and two counts of reckless injury to a child. Trials on those charges have not yet been scheduled.
Prosecutors said Tata put the children in harm's way by leaving them alone and going shopping at a Target store. Tata's attorneys said she didn't intend to hurt the children. Defense attorneys said murder charges were excessive and that when the fire broke out, she tried to save the children.
After the fire, Tata fled to Nigeria but was captured after about a month and returned to the U.S. in March 2011. She has remained jailed since then. Tata was born in the U.S. but has Nigerian citizenship. She was not charged with a crime at the time she left the country.
Images: Day care fire
Four children die and several others are injured or burned after a west Houston day care facility catches fire.
Comments