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Guilty plea withdrawn in Missouri child-in-closet case

Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence
Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence

(AP) — A judge has withdrawn guilty pleas entered by a Kansas City woman accused of locking her severely malnourished daughter in a closet.

The mother pleaded guilty in January to felony child abuse, child endangerment and assault charges in the abuse of her 10-year-old daughter.

The Associated Press is not naming the woman to protect the child’s identity.

On Monday, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence withdrew the woman’s guilty pleas. He said she had contacted him and The Kansas City Star in January to say she didn’t mean to plead guilty to two of the three felonies. She said her public defender forced her into the plea deal.

Torrence said the case will be put back on the court docket for a jury trial.

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