She had traumatic injuries to the front, back and both sides of her head in a case that prosecutors charge is child abuse and murder.
Now, it's up to a Macomb County Circuit Court jury to decide whether Jamiah's mother, Charliette Stalling, killed her infant daughter or if it believes her defense attorney, who said there is "absolutely no child abuse here."
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Authorities said Jamiah — born Sept. 19, 2013 — suffered blunt-force head trauma and skull fractures, with the injuries occurring at or near the time of her death. They said Jamiah's injuries occurred at the hand of her mother, who told authorities she doesn't know how the injuries happened.
"Little Jamiah suffered a horrendous act of child abuse while she was in that home in Warren,"
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But Louis Zaidan, Stalling's attorney, painted a different picture of his client, a mother of two other children. He said she has no record of child abuse, that child abuse did not occur in this case and that there was no blunt force trauma.
He told jurors that he believes Jamiah's head "had to be compressed on two soft objects" three to five days before the 911 call that prompted the investigation. He said Jamiah had a similar choking reaction when being fed a couple days prior to the 911 call, but Stalling suctioned her daughter's nose and the baby calmed down.
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At the time, attorneys said, Stalling was staying with a neighbor, caring for the neighbor's young child and grandmother, who had dementia, while the neighbor worked her night shift job.
Tobin said two doctors will testify that Jamiah's injuries were from child abuse from blunt-force trauma to her head from more than one act.
But Zaidan said injuries may have occurred days earlier. He said Stalling did what any mother would do with her child in distress, stayed at the hospital with her all night and was concerned about what was going on with her baby.