Plea deal, prison discussed in death of girl

A former Queens woman whose conviction for causing the death of her 4-year-old daughter two decades ago was overturned last year would serve "significant" prison time under a plea deal being discussed by her attorney and Suffolk prosecutors, a state justice said Tuesday.

Under the proposed deal, Khairual Abdul, 46, would plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter for the death of her daughter, Jennifer Shafiq, in December 1990, State Supreme Court Justice C. Randall Hinrichs said in court.

Abdul has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in her daughter's death, whose body was found in a wooded area off the Long Island Expressway in Manorville in 1996.

Abdul's attorney, Mary Elizabeth Abbate of Deer Park, said outside court she was not sure whether Abdul would agree to plead guilty to the manslaughter charge. Abbate said she and prosecutors have not agreed on Abdul's sentence if she were to plead guilty to manslaughter.

Assistant District Attorney Dari Schwartz declined to comment outside court.

Abdul's 2007 second-degree murder conviction for Jennifer's death was thrown out last year by a state appeals court. The appeals panel cited errors by Hinrichs, who presided over Abdul's trial.

Abdul had been serving a sentence of 25 years to life at an upstate prison when the appeals court ordered a new trial. She is being held without bail in the Suffolk County jail.

Prosecutors said Jennifer died after her mother dropped the girl to the floor of the family's apartment in Hollis, Queens, in December 1990.

Jennifer's father, Parmjit Singh, 54, is serving a 2-to-7- year prison sentence for dumping the girl's body in the wooded area off the LIE. Jennifer's body was found there by a passerby in 1996.

Singh and Abdul were arrested in connection with her death in 2006 after they had moved to California.