WINFIELD, W.Va. -- A Putnam County judge said he thought of a child gasping for air in the last months of life while he sentenced a Hurricane mother to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering her 3-year-old daughter.
Last October, jurors found Tracy Wright, 29, guilty of murder of a child by a parent by refusal or failure to supply necessities, and child neglect resulting in death. Prosecutors argued Wright failed to provide necessary treatment to keep her daughter, Ashley, a cystic fibrosis patient, alive.
Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers said during Wright's sentencing Thursday that his time spent as a paramedic taught him someone could only survive a few minutes without air.
Because of the suffering Wright's daughter endured during her last six months of life "fighting for every breath of air, I can't forgive you," Stowers said.
Wright was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her daughter, and three to 15 years for child neglect resulting in death.
The jury's sentence last year came with mercy, meaning Wright will be eligible for parole in 15 years. Stowers said Wright would receive 342 days credit for time already served.
Wright's mother, Teresa Kidd, of Poca, sat in the courtroom as her daughter's sentence was pronounced. Kidd adopted Wright's 6-year-old daughter at the end of last year.
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- A Putnam County judge said he thought of a child gasping for air in the last months of life while he sentenced a Hurricane mother to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering her 3-year-old daughter.
Last October, jurors found Tracy Wright, 29, guilty of murder of a child by a parent by refusal or failure to supply necessities, and child neglect resulting in death. Prosecutors argued Wright failed to provide necessary treatment to keep her daughter, Ashley, a cystic fibrosis patient, alive.
Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers said during Wright's sentencing Thursday that his time spent as a paramedic taught him someone could only survive a few minutes without air.
Because of the suffering Wright's daughter endured during her last six months of life "fighting for every breath of air, I can't forgive you," Stowers said.
Wright was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her daughter, and three to 15 years for child neglect resulting in death.
The jury's sentence last year came with mercy, meaning Wright will be eligible for parole in 15 years. Stowers said Wright would receive 342 days credit for time already served.
Wright's mother, Teresa Kidd, of Poca, sat in the courtroom as her daughter's sentence was pronounced. Kidd adopted Wright's 6-year-old daughter at the end of last year.
David Moye, Wright's attorney, said she would appeal the verdict. He argued during the three-day trial that although state Child Protective Services had been involved for about a year, they had not removed Ashley from her mother's care.
He also claimed that MRSA, an infectious bacterium, could have resulted in pneumonia and caused Ashley Wright to die.
Dr. Nabila Haikal, with the state medical examiner's office, performed an autopsy on Ashley. She testified during the trial that she ruled the death a homicide based on CPS and police reports.
Haikal had said Ashley had pneumonia when she died, and that the lack of medications to treat her cystic fibrosis is what "brought her early demise."
Cystic fibrosis is a lung disease, and Haikal said that people who suffer from that disease are more susceptible to pneumonia.
Moye attempted to have Haikal and other witnesses admit they couldn't say the child would have lived even with the appropriate medications and treatment.
The doctor and other witnesses disagreed, and said that with appropriate treatment and medication, a cystic fibrosis patient can live into adulthood.
Reach Kate White at kate.wh...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
