By Marielis Acevedo
06 Oct 2023, 2:18 PM EDT
A 25-year-old homeless man, identified as Mickel Cherry, could be sentenced to the death penalty if convicted in the case of the rape and murder of a 5-year-old girl in Kansas.
Cherry was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and rape.
Zoey Felix died after allegedly being attacked by Cherry at a homeless encampment.
The final decision on the death penalty request by the Prosecutor’s Office will not be made until it is determined whether the man is fit to stand trial, the Associated Press reported.
The defendant remains detained in a prison in Topeka on $2 million bail.
The minor was raped and murdered in a homeless encampment in a wooded area of the city after her mother allegedly kicked her and other relatives out of her home.
Felix was found Monday at a gas station with life-threatening injuries, according to the Topeka Police Department report. The little girl died in the hospital to which she was transferred.
Cherry was arrested Tuesday.
Former neighbors of the girl referred to in the news agency’s review indicated that she had been living with her father and Cherry for the past few weeks in the camp near the gas station and a few blocks from her mother’s house.
Although the information has not been confirmed, authorities believe that, after the attack, the minor was transferred from the camp to the establishment.
Timothy Phelps, deputy director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, confirmed that Cherry previously lived at the same address as Zoey; but, at the time of her arrest, she was homeless.
Although Cherry has no criminal record in Kansas; if he has a criminal conviction in Amarillo, Texas, for trespassing.