Kids Killed In Fire, Mom On Trial

Alabama Mobile Jacinta Watkins is accused of leaving her two sons ages 5 and 6 alone in a motel room. Both boys were killed when police say one of the boys set the room on fire.

by WKRG Staff

Published: Wed, February 18, 2009 - 11:44 am CST Last Updated: Wed, February 18, 2009 - 1:49 pm CST

1:49 p.m.
- Medical examiner Dr. Eugene Hart testified both children died of thermal injuries and smoke inhalation.
- Mykal had burns to 20% of his body. Malik was burned on 12% of his body.

12:48 p.m.
Prosecutors called several witnesses Tuesday morning. Among them, Labaraon Fleeton, a friend of Jacinta Watkins. Fleeton testified that Watkins and her two sons lived with him at one point. During that time, Fleeton said there were several incidents of 6-year-old Mykal playing with fire.

11:44 a.m.
Opening arguments began Tuesday morning in the manslaughter trial of Jacinta Watkins, the woman accused of leaving her two young boys alone in a motel room that caught fire.

5-year-old Malik Watkins and his 6-year-old brother Mykal died in a February 19, 2007 fire at the Bama Motel on Government Boulevard. Police believe one of the boys set the fire.

Watkins left her children alone to go to work, but her attorney says she isn't responsible for their deaths. During today's opening statements, Watkins attorney questioned whether the hotel had a working smoke detector, which could have prevented the children's death.

Watkins is charged with 2 counts of manslaughter.

Right now, News 5's Jessica Taloney is sitting in on Watkin's trial. She will have the latest on the trial tonight on News 5 at 5:00 & 6:00.

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Mom2AngelBaby Says:

Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 6:48 pm

I agree sirk! NO EXCUSE at all…to me leaving a child unattend is premeditated murder, because you as an adult know of the things a child is capable of doing…I realize she was probably trying to make a living to feed these boys, but leaving them alone wasn’t the proper thing to do..Sadly, she will have to live the rest of her life knowing that she’s soley responsible for there deaths!

rolltider Says:

Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:18 pm

I believe she worked at the Krystal.

KxVicious Says:

Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:12 pm

What kind of work did this woman do? Bama Motel (last I heard) was a very shady “rent by the hour” type place.

Krickkett Says:

Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 2:08 pm

AMEN!!!

Sirk Says:

Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 12:49 pm

Smoke detector or not, she should have never left those children alone. If an alarm had went off, would children that age have known to get out of a building? Who would have known children were in there by themselves and rushed to rescue them if they heard the alarm before they were overcome by smoke inhalation. I don’t care what kind of excuses anyone has, there was no excuse to leave those kids alone.