Former Astronaut Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter In Death Of Two Girls, Gets Four Years “My daughters were amazing, beautiful, smart, strong little girls that could have been anything in this world if they had the opportunity to grow up, but that was taken from me and all of everyone else in this world,” the mother of 11-year-old Niomi Deona James and 13-year-old Jayla Latrick Parler said after the plea. James Halsell Jr. Photo: AP A former Alabama astronaut pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault in the death of two young girls and will spend 4 years behind bars, but the victims’ family has argued that the plea deal “wasn’t justice.”