TOPEKA (KSNT) – A man involved in one of Topeka's most high-profile recent homicide investigations has changed his plea on Friday.
Mickel Cherry appeared at a Shawnee County courtroom on the morning of Dec. 13 after documents were filed earlier in the month indicating he was considering changing his plea. He changed his plea to guilty on Friday to first degree murder and rape with a third count of capital murder being dismissed.
Cherry was charged by the Shawnee County District Attorney's office in October 2023 for his alleged part in the death of local five-year-old Zoey Felix. His charges included:
The Topeka Police Department arrested Cherry after an incident on Oct. 2 where first responders were called to a local gas station on reports of an unresponsive child. Law enforcement arriving in the area attempted to save the child, later identified as Felix, who was taken to a hospital where she later died.
Felix was declared the 26th homicide of the year in Topeka for 2023, a year which had an all-time high for homicide investigations in the Capital City. Cherry's charge of capital murder carried with it the possibility he could have faced the death penalty.
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