Mickel Cherry pleads guilty to Topeka rape, murder of 5-year-old Zoey Felix
· Yahoo NewsMickel Cherry pleaded guilty Friday to two crimes linked to the October 2023 southeast Topeka killing of 5-year-old Zoey Felix, with those being first-degree murder in the commission of an inherently dangerous felony and rape by someone 18 or older of a victim 14 or younger.
Cherry, 26, admitted to having raped and suffocated Zoey at the homeless camp where they lived, District Attorney Mike Kagay said at Friday's hearing.
Cherry's plea came as part of an agreement in which the defense and prosecution agreed to recommend he be sentenced to life imprisonment on both convictions, with a three-day sentencing hearing set to begin June 2.
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The agreement leaves open the possibility that Cherry's life sentences could run either at the same time or consecutively.
Cherry could be eligible for parole in 25 years if Shawnee County District Judge Jessica Heinen, who is hearing the case, arranges for them to run at the same time.
Kagay said he would ask that the sentences be made consecutive, in which case Cherry wouldn't be parole-eligible for at least 50 years.
Heinen said her options also include disregarding the agreement's terms and imposing anything from the least-severe to most-severe sentences the law allows for the crimes for which Cherry was convicted.
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The plea agreement also called for prosecutors to drop a capital murder charge Cherry faced.
Cherry has an intellectual disability and the law prohibits the execution of defendants with such disabilities, Kagay told reporters afterward.
What happened to Zoey Felix?
Zoey was not going to school at the time of her death. She often roamed her neighborhood alone and unsupervised as she lived with her parents and others at a house in the block of 2200 S.E. Market, neighbors told The Capital-Journal in October 2023.
Zoey "pretty much took care of herself," said Shaniqua Bradley, who lived next door to Zoey until she moved to the campsite.
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"Everybody loved Zoey, except her parents," said Sheryl Tyree, who didn't live in the neighborhood but spent a lot of time there.
Neighbors said they had contacted authorities, who did nothing.
"The system failed her," said Desiree Miles, who lived across the street from Zoey's former home.
Zoey's mother, Holly Felix, in September 2023 expelled from that house a group that included Zoey; Cherry; Ezequiel Felix-Guerrero, Zoey's father, who had legal custody of her; and Zoey's half-sister, Katelenn Marie Cain. The group went to live in a campsite in the 2000 block of S.E. 28th.
Zoey was suffering from injuries that proved fatal as she was brought brought Oct. 2, 2023, to the nearby Dillons gasoline pumps at 2010 S.E. 29th. Topeka police announced the next day that Zoey had been raped and killed.
What effects did Zoey's death have statewide?
Zoey's death brought change at the state level, raising alarms about oversight of children in need of care and prompting Kansas lawmakers to bring more transparency and oversight to the processes involved.
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Zoey's death helped bring about the passage by Kansas legislators of laws creating a child advocate's office and allowing for the public release of a summary of what happened after a child dies in state custody or after having contact with the state's Department for Children and Families.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families revealed that it had investigated Zoey's family six times after receiving nine reports in the previous year.
Prior to a report in late August 2023, DCF had conducted four investigations. One found the mother was working with court services, and she passed a drug screen. Two cases were unsubstantiated, one for an alleged lack of supervision and one for an alleged lack of utilities and poor living conditions.
The other investigation, after the mother was involved in a DUI crash that injured Zoey, was substantiated, with Zoey being left in the care of her father after no safety concerns were identified.
Why did Cherry's attorneys repeatedly ask for more time?
Cherry was booked into the Shawnee County Jail at 4:15 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2023.
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At court hearings regarding the case, Cherry's defense attorneys have repeatedly asked for more time to go over tens of thousands of pages of mitigation records they have received regarding him.
Mitigation records share information about the defendant aimed at convincing the court to lessen any sentence that might be imposed if he or she is convicted.
Peter Conley, senior assistant capital defender for the state's Death Penalty Defense Unit, told Heinen, the Shawnee County District Court judge, last March that he wanted in particular for prosecutors to know "where this should be going if we have a penalty phrase."
(This story was updated to add new information.)
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Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Mickel Cherry pleads guilty in Topeka murder and rape of Zoey Felix, 5