MAGNOLIA — A trial date has been set for a southwest Arkansas couple who are charged with allowing their 2-week old daughter to be bitten by rats.
The Magnolia Banner-News reports that 19-year-old Charles Elliott and 18-year-old Erica Shryock are to be tried Jan. 24-25 in Columbia County Circuit Court.
The two face charges of permitting child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Defense attorney Joseph Churchwell says the pair have declined an undisclosed plea bargain offered by prosecutors.
Churchwell has filed an intent to use a defense of mental disease or defect.
A mental evaluation of the pair says both suffer mental illness, but are competent to stand trial.
