MOM CONVICTED IN BABY'S DEATH; SOLD FOOD COUPONS TO BUY DRUGS

WEST SIDE -- A West Side woman was convicted in a bench trial Monday of
involuntary manslaughter for selling her 3-month-old son's baby formula
coupons to support her cocaine addiction.

Kimberly Qualls, 33, formerly of the 1400 block of South Sawyer Avenue, is
scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 13 by Criminal Court Judge Joseph Kazmierski
Jr.

Qualls had been charged with murder after an autopsy showed that her son,
Jarvis, had not been suffering any other medical problems when he died on
Dec. 11, 1996. He had weighed 5 pounds 7 ounces at birth but had gained
only 3 ounces by the time he died, prosecutors said.