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A South Los Angeles woman was charged Friday with murder and other counts in connection with her 4-year-old daughter’s death.
Akira Smith, 34, is set to be arraigned Friday afternoon in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on one count each of murder, torture and assault on a child causing death, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The criminal complaint also alleges that Smith was convicted in 2016 of assault with a deadly weapon and in 2014 of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, fiance or boyfriend.
Smith — who could face up to 62 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged — is accused of fatally beating her daughter, Eternity, at their South Los Angeles home Tuesday, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The girl was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m. Tuesday after being taken by ambulance to a hospital, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police were contacted by hospital staff, according to the LAPD.
The girl’s mother was arrested at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Juvenile Division, and she has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
Officers took the girl’s three siblings into protective custody and released them to the Department of Children and Family Services, according to the LAPD.
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