HOUSTON (AP) _ An attorney for a woman charged with murder in the deaths of four children in a fire at her Houston home day care center plans to ask a judge to reduce her $1.1 million bond.
During a court hearing in Houston on Friday, Jessica Tata’s attorney planned to argue the bonds are illegally excessive and should be reduced to $50,000.
Tata remains jailed on nine charges related to the Feb. 24 fire that also injured three children. She fled to Nigeria after the fire and became an international fugitive for nearly a month. Her bonds were set after her capture.
Authorities believe the 23-year-old left all seven children in her care alone while she went shopping, and the fire was ignited by a stove-top burner that was left on.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)