Macomb County Mom Pleads No Contest In Death Of 5-Year-Old Son

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MI — A Clinton Township mother is facing up to 15 years in prison after her 5-year-old wandered from a Clinton Township home and froze to death at a nearby park in January, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office.

Derricka Fleming, 25, pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the child's death. Her sentencing date is scheduled for June 12. A no contest plea is treated as a guilty plea in Michigan.

Prosecutors said Fleming put her 5-year-old son, Lamar Tyrone Mitchell, to bed in their Clinton Township apartment on Jan. 23 and went upstairs to visit a neighbor.

While Fleming was upstairs, the boy got out of bed and left the apartment, prosecutors said.

Officers searched the area around the apartment complex and found the boy at a nearby park near Harper Avenue and 15 Mile Road, officials said.

Police took the boy to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, officials said. Prosecutors said the boy froze to death.

"Today's no contest plea brings some measure of closure, but it can never fill the void left by the loss of a precious life. Our hearts ache for the innocent child whose potential was tragically cut short," Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said.