WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) - A judge is considering a defense request to lift the death penalty from a woman convicted in the starvation death of her 7-year-old daughter two decades ago and resentence her to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Forty-nine-year-old Michelle Sue Tharp was convicted of the 1998 death of daughter Tausha Lee Lanham. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the conviction but ordered a new sentencing hearing, saying her public defender was ineffective.
The (Washington) Observer-Reporter reports that Tharp’s attorneys argued Monday that relatives and medical professionals with direct knowledge of the case have died in the intervening years.
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Washington County prosecutors argue that the testimony can still be presented to jurors. But defense attorneys want the judge not to empanel jurors but instead to sentence Tharp to life.
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Information from: Observer-Reporter, http://www.observer-reporter.com
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