Feb 25, 2008 5:40 pm US/Eastern
Moms Plead No Contest In Fires That Killed 5 Kids
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) ―
On the day jury selection was supposed to begin in their trial, two mothers pleaded no contest to charges of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of their five children in a fire.
Furaha Love and Shakita Mangham are accused of leaving their seven children home alone in Larimer in June 2007, while they went to a bar.
Prosecutors say Mangham initially told police there was a baby sitter the night of the fire.
Police later learned two 8-year-olds were left to care for the five children who died, all 7 or younger.
Prosecutors dropped reckless endangerment and other lesser charges in exchange for today's pleas to the most serious charges.
Mangham's attorney, James Ecker, said his client was "extremely remorseful" about the events that led to the fire, and that he was glad many of the charges against her were dropped.
"It's a tragedy," he said. "It's something she's going to live with for the rest of her life."
Love and her attorney declined to comment.
No sentence was agreed upon as part of the pleas.
Love and Mangham will now be sentenced by an Allegheny County judge on May 22.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
