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Parks said he expects Burkemeyer to accept the deal during a sentencing scheduled for Friday morning in Union.
The deal would give Clay credit for the time he's served in Franklin County Jail, which is more than a year. He would serve the rest of the three years in the Department of Corrections.
For Miranda Carpenter, the mother of Macayla, it's been a nightmarish roller coaster ride of emotions that has lasted nearly six years.
Carpenter has been vocal and relentless in her message that three years in the death of her daughter isn't enough.
When Judge Wood rejected the deal, offered to Clay earlier this summer, Carpenter felt like she had won a moral victory.
"I was so ecstatic at the thought of that plea deal being turned down," she said. "I was never willing to take no for an answer... Then I find out after it's been rejected, it's been offered again. I don't know what to say... I'm shaking so bad. I'm flabbergasted and sick. It's disgusting."
Carpenter said she was told by prosecutors that after Judge Wood rejected the first deal, they wouldn't reoffer the same deal again.
Parks said that wasn't the case whatsoever.
"Nobody ever promised that," he said.
Parks said he feels the plea deal is the right decision.
According to Parks, there is no eyewitness, which would make a murder conviction difficult.
At the time of the death, another child was present, but their testimony has been ruled inadmissible in court because of the child's young age.
Parks said a trial would have come down to dissenting opinions from medical examiners representing each council.
"Based on the evidence that we had, we offered a plea deal that we could have proven in court," Parks said. "... we did not believe that we could convict on the murder (in the second degree charge) and we wanted a conviction in this case. I thought it was best to do this plea deal."
Background
According to St. Clair Police Department records, officers responded to East Ridge Apartments at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2003, in reference to a report of a small child not breathing.
Upon arrival, officers observed a neighbor performing CPR on Macayla, who was later transported to St. John's Mercy Hospital, Washington, where she was pronounced dead.
At the time of the incident, police say Clay was baby-sitting Macayla and her 4-year-old sister while Miranda was at work in Gerald.
Miranda told police she returned from work four hours later after leaving the children alone with Clay and found that Macayla wasn't breathing.
An autopsy later revealed the child died as a result of closed head trauma. Her death was classified as a homicide, records state.
