Prosecutors are getting another chance to convict an Elkhart woman charged with killing 19-month-old Kirk Coleman.
Jackie Rolston’s first trial ended in a mistrial when a juror shared outside information with another. That led to her attorney requesting a change of venue, but that was denied.
Rolston is charged with a single count of battery resulting in the death of a child.
Initially, she told police in Oct. 2014 that Kirk Coleman was choking on his lunch. But Coleman died hours later, and a coroner ruled he died of blunt force injuries.
Rolston was actually convicted of neglect of a dependent in a different case. However, Coleman’s family wasn’t informed by Rolston of that at the time. The family has since worked to get Kirk’s Law passed, which requires the creation of a database of people convicted of child abuse. That database must be up and running by July 1, 2017.
