Tulsa Woman To Face Jury Trial In Death Of Two Nieces

The aunt of two little girls, killed in an apartment fire, was denied a plea deal Monday.

Miashah Moses’ nieces were killed while in her care, but the children's mother doesn't blame her and the family doesn't believe she should be charged with murder.

Miashah said she stepped out of the apartment to take out the trash when the fire started, but investigators said surveillance video shows otherwise. Now she'll have to explain what happened to a jury.

In November of 2013, flames flew out of a Tulsa apartment near 59th Street and South Lewis Avenue, and firefighters fought the heat to pull 4-year-old Noni and 18-month-old Nylah out of the burning building.

They tried to resuscitate them while the girls' babysitter, their aunt, Miashah, cried out.

She was arrested for child neglect that day, and when Noni and Nylah later died at the hospital, she was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

8/12/2014 Related Story: Tulsa Woman Charged In Deaths Of Two Nieces Released On Bond

Miashah’s sister, Keahmiee Moses, said, "This is truly an accident. My sister shouldn't be for second-degree murder. Them was her nieces, that's my sister. She watched my kids plenty of times for me."

Keahmiee has already lost her daughters, now she's scared she might also lose her sister.

Miashah and Keahmiee’s mother, Chrisandria Moses, said the family feels the fire was an accident.

"Those were my grandchildren, and this is wrong. This is all kinds of wrong," she said.

But that hasn't stopped prosecutors.

"You just going all kinds of hard on trying to prosecute her sister, who she loves, who loved those children. They loved her," Chrisandria said.

Miashah told investigators she was cooking fried chicken, went to take out the trash and ran into a "homie" when the fire started. She said she locked the door and couldn't find the key to get in and save them.

Police said surveillance video tells a different story. It shows Moses leaving her apartment, then going into another apartment and staying in there eight minutes.

Chrisandria said, "Everybody in here have stepped away from they children from six to eight minutes. You dump your trash, you cut your yard, you talk to your neighbor. The real question is why is her charged with second-degree murder?"

Moses was in court Monday for that charge, trying to make a plea deal, but it was denied. Now, her fate will be decided by a jury.

The new date for Moses's jury trial has not been set.