Pa. district attorney seeks death penalty for couple in toddler’s starvation

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A prosecutor will pursue the death penalty against a western Pennsylvania couple in the starvation death of their 23-month-old daughter, who authorities said weighed just 10 pounds when she died in February.

The Fayette County district attorney’s office announced the intention Friday when 32-year-old Michael Wright Jr. and 26-year-old Andrea Dusha were formally arraigned on charges of criminal homicide, child endangerment and reckless endangerment.

Authorities allege that Lydia Wright was left in a car seat for more than 13 hours at the family’s squalid Uniontown home before she died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The couple’s attorneys didn’t return calls for comment today.

Wright’s former attorney says he thought Dusha was caring for the child, while Dusha’s former attorney previously argued she did “everything that she supposed to do at the first sign of distress.”