Pa. woman's starvation appeal hearing continues

WASHINGTON, Pa. (AP) — An appeals hearing was continuing for a second day for a western Pennsylvania woman awaiting the death penalty for starving her 7-year-old daughter.

Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky began hearing testimony and arguments Monday in the case of 41-year-old Michelle Tharp.

Pozonsky imposed the death penalty in November 2000 after Tharp was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1998 death of Tausha Lee Lanham, who weighed less than 12 pounds.

Tharp’s attorneys want her conviction overturned because they contend evidence of Tharp’s low IQ and abusive childhood wasn’t introduced at trial.

Authorities say the child’s body was dumped in West Virginia by Tharp and her boyfriend, who is serving a 15- to 30-year sentence. The couple had pretended the girl was abducted at an Ohio shopping mall.