The babysitter, whose name has not been released, was taken to a juvenile Youth Detention Center in Fulton County, where she will be held while prosecutors decide how to proceed.

Zyda White, 2, died over the weekend as a result of a head injury and blunt force trauma to her body and her buttocks.

Sandy Spring Police spokesman Lt. Steve Rose said the charges brought against the babysitter indicate the physical fury Zyda endured.

But the law restricts the kinds of charges and punishment that can be brought against children younger than 13, according to legal experts. The law says children 12 and younger are prosecuted in the juvenile court system. They can be incarcerated up to five years or their 21st birthday if the juvenile system determines more time is needed.

District Attorney Paul Howard will determine the final charges that will be brought. Howard said through his spokeswoman, "Our office is awaiting a full report on this mater from the Sandy Springs Police Department. On receipt of that report we will conduct our own investigation and make a decision on the appropriate charges."

The 11-year-old is the daughter of a co-worker of Zyda's mother. The toddler's mother called 911 when she saw her daughter's condition when she picked her up Saturday night. The child died later at Scottish Rite Hospital.

Ron Carlson, University of Georgia Law School dean emeritus, questioned whether a murder charge could be sought against someone so young.

"The serious question is whether or not the state can go ahead with an adult charge," Carlson said. "We're going to have to let the courts decide that one because criminal responsibility is limited to those older than 12 years old.

"The traditional understanding in the courts is you have to be over 12 years old, even by one day, to be charged with homicide," Carlson said.

He wondered why authorities were "saying we can charge this kid as an adult?"

In 2004, Carroll County prosecutors had a similar problem in the strangulation of 8-year-old Amy Yates.

Amy vanished shortly after leaving her family's trailer on her bicycle to visit a friend in the Twin Oaks Mobile Home Park. About four hours later, police found her body in a ditch about 100 yards from her trailer.

A 12-year-old boy who was a known troublemaker in the trailer park eventually pleaded guilty. He was locked up for two years, the longest the law allowed at that time.

In 2006, the Georgia General Assembly passed Amy's Law, which lengthened the time a juvenile could be confined for a crime that would be a felony if committed by anyone 13 years or older. When Amy was killed, the maximum time was two years, and now it is five years or until the 21st birthday.