Parents Plead Guilty In Starvation Death

The adoptive parents of a Nassau County boy who starved to death last year while in their care, for which the state was paying $800 a month, pleaded guilty in Mineola, L.I., yesterday to charges stemming from the case.

Carmencita Mitchell, the adoptive mother, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the second degree in the death of 7-year-old Weyland Brown Mitchell, whose weight had dropped from 40 pounds in 1990 to 24 at the time of his death.

Her husband, Robert E. Mitchell, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child.

Judge Raymond Harrington of the Nassau County Court set March 22 as the sentencing date. Mrs. Mitchell faces a maximum of 15 years in jail, while her husband faces up to one year. At the time of the boy's death the Mitchells lived in Wantagh, L.I. They later moved to Manhattan.

The pleas were entered at the opening of pretrial hearings yesterday when Mrs. Mitchell told Judge Harrington that she accepted responsibility for not caring properly the boy.