Dakota King will get another shot to find housing before discussions begin on what happens if the terms of his plea deal can’t be met.
Public defender Phyllis Emerick said during Friday’s hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse that King did not have a “firm place” to stay. Emerick had said in January that Hotels for Homeless would accept King, but that was a miscommunication, according to executive director Katie Norris.
Norris said in a phone interview that she had told Emerick she would try to help King find housing – but just as an individual, not while acting in her official duties with Hotels for Homeless. She said she connected Emerick and King with possible leads and those leads must not have worked out.
Deputy prosecutor Trisha Bushey said during Friday’s hearing that the two sides would “need to start having a conversation about what happens” if their plea deal is unworkable.
King was arrested in 2019 after his girlfriend's baby was pronounced dead at IU Bloomington Hospital. King allegedly admitted to holding the baby’s face in its bedding to stop it from crying and allegedly told police he got angry with the child after it spit up on him. King was charged with murder, two counts of neglect of a dependent, and battery. He’s been held in the Monroe County Jail since then.
Prosecutors initially pursued a life sentence for King, but the two parties entered a plea deal in April 2021. King pleaded guilty to one of the neglect charges in exchange for home detention. Neither the prosecution nor defense has commented on how the life sentence became home detention as the case is ongoing.
King didn’t have a residence in Monroe County, though, and none of his family lives here. Monroe Circuit Court Judge Valeri Haughton released King from jail three times so he could try to find a place to live.
King won’t be released from jail this time. Emerick said an investigator in the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office would work on finding him a home.
