Turlock mother guilty of smoking meth as toddler starved to death
A jury this week found a Stanislaus County mother guilty of second-degree murder after she left her 2-year-old daughter with cerebral palsy alone in a room for days without food or water as she hung out and smoked methamphetamine.
“This is a child who starved to death,” Deputy Dist. Atty. John R. Mayne told the jury. “This is a horror movie.”
Brandy Lee Rose Devine was found guilty Thursday in the July 2012 death of her daughter, Stephanie Torres, according to the Modesto Bee.
The jury deliberated for just an hour before returning with a verdict.
Devine’s attorney had told the jury that they were not contesting the child cruelty and meth charges, but claimed the mother did not know at the time that not feeding her child or giving her water would result in death.
The attorney claimed it was criminally negligent, but not murder.
A pathologist testified during the trial that the girl died of dehydration and malnourishment and that the girl had been dead a day or two before she was discovered.
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