FL - Justin & Marsha Vanfleet for torture of 5yo daughter, Punta Gorda, 2004

Casshew

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The woman held her hands tightly across her stomach Monday as a judge berated her for nearly killing her kindergarten-age daughter 10 months ago.

"No depression, no physical illness, no economic deprivation, no emotional problems, no adverse living conditions or experiences, no lack of emotional support or other instability can justify … what you did to your daughter," Circuit Judge Donald Pellecchia told Marsha Ann Vanfleet, moments before he sentenced her to 15 years in prison.

"The torture, the pain, the excruciating suffering that you caused your daughter can never be forgiven by this court."

Once released from prison, Vanfleet, 25, will be on probation for another 15 years. She is barred from contacting her daughter during that time and must undergo a psychiatric evaluation, the judge ordered.

Her attorney had asked for leniency, saying that Vanfleet cooperated with authorities.

"She certainly didn't cooperate when the child was screaming in pain, and to shut her up, they took her broken arm and tied it in front of her mouth around her neck," Prosecutor John Burns said. "This is a horrible crime, judge, and she deserves to be punished severely."

But it may have been Vanfleet's words that prompted Pellecchia's admonishment.

During the final minutes of the hearing, Vanfleet stepped to the middle of the courtroom and addressed the judge. The room was silent.

"I'm sorry for what happened to her, and I'm sorry for bringing them" to Florida, Vanfleet, a petite woman, said softly, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Anything else?" the judge asked.

"No," she replied.

A Department of Children & Families investigator, acting on a call to the state's abuse hotline in January, found the girl drifting in and out of consciousness.

"She was propped up in a chair just like a rag doll," the investigator, Micah Carpenter, testified Monday.

The girl's tiny body was bruised and covered with cuts and open sores. Her shoulder was swollen. A ligature mark from a rope or small cord colored the back of her neck, Carpenter said.

They were life-threatening injuries that needed immediate medical attention. The investigator escorted the girl and her parents from their Chaves Circle home to a local hospital.

He later discovered that the girl had been punished and kept out of school for a week because she misbehaved in class and had not returned a library book.

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Jeana (DP) said:
Nothing short of life in prison should have been given to this monster.
In a just world I think she shouldve gotten exactly what her daughter got then prison but Im sure the ACLU would disagree with me!
 

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