A South Hall teenager was indicted Thursday on charges of malice murder, cruelty to child in the first degree and felony murder in the July 18 death of her 9-day-old daughter.
The indictment alleges that Haley Brook Clark, 17, caused “cruel and excessive physical pain by smothering (Olivia Michelle Clark) with her hand.”
Clark was arrested Aug. 6 and remains in the Hall County Jail. A trial is not yet scheduled.
At a preliminary hearing for Clark on Aug. 31 in Hall County Magistrate Court, an investigator with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office testified that Clark admitted to suffocating the infant while she was feeding her.
A medical examiner confirmed that account, investigator Jason Egerton testified.
The defense team argued that report was given a month after the autopsy, and the cause of death until then was still pending.
The investigators at that hearing also testified that Clark was at a party the night before the incident and came home intoxicated, then argued with her father about where she was.
Egerton said Clark’s father told him she was getting overwhelmed with the responsibility of having a child.
The defense said more information about the events surrounding July 18 are likely to surface as the case progresses.
“Many times there’s a completely different slant on information when things go through the court processes, and I think (Clark’s) might be one of those,” Brad Morris, the public defender representing Clark, said at the time. “I think there’s going to be a lot more to it than has come up recently.”