VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A mother who was arrested in connection with her 7-year-old daughter’s beating death has entered a no-contest plea and could face up to 30 years in prison, court records show.
Janee Dickson, 28, entered the plea Tuesday on a single count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was arrested in February 2020 although deputies said the beating took place in March 2018.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.
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According to the report, Dickson found Kamia Jean-Baptiste limp, cold to the touch and with her eyes glossed over the morning of March 6, 2018 and took her to a hospital. The girl had been complaining the night before that she was constantly thirsty, was having trouble breathing and couldn’t sleep but she didn’t receive medical attention at that time.
Jean-Baptiste was airlifted to another hospital, where she died the next day. Her death was ruled a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma.
Dickson initially claimed that Jean-Baptiste was injured on a slide at a playground but then later changed her story and said her boyfriend beat the girl because they were in the car and she repeatedly asked to stop to use the bathroom, according to the affidavit.
The report said she accused him of beating her on the side of a dead-end street for 15 to 20 minutes with an object then a short time later, stopped at a cemetery and beat her again for about 30 minutes until Jean-Baptiste curled up in the back seat to prevent any further violence.
Dickson’s boyfriend denied ever hitting the child and said he knew Dickson hit the girl because he would hear the beatings and see Jean-Baptiste crying afterward but he never actually saw the blows. The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that Dickson’s boyfriend was never arrested in connection with the case.
Dickson has remained in the Volusia County jail since her arrest.