Father whose 23-month-old daughter died pleads guilty to lesser charges
Wright sentenced to time served and released from jail
File photo
A father who was granted a new trial last year after being convicted of third-degree murder in the death of his 23-month-old daughter in Uniontown has pleaded guilty to lesser charges and is now free after being sentenced to time served.
Michael Lynn Wright Jr., 40, pleaded guilty last month in Fayette County Court of Common Pleas to charges of felony child endangerment and misdemeanor reckless endangerment in connection with the death of his daughter, Lydia.
The unexpected plea happened during a May 15 pre-trial conference after the state Attorney General’s office, which had taken over prosecuting the case, dropped the third-degree murder charge. After his plea, Judge Linda Cordaro sentenced Wright to serve 3 ½ to 7 years in prison, but he was immediately released since he had been jailed for more than eight years after his arrest following the girl’s death on Feb. 24, 2016.
The reason for the new trial centered around the weight of the girl when she died. While pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht claimed that Lydia weighed only 10 pounds, new evidence brought forward by Wright’s appeals attorney, Jeremy Cooper, revealed that was not true. Prosecutors asserted that the girl died from severe malnutrition and dehydration, but a medical expert hired to review the records contended the weight reported by Wecht was “incorrect, and far exceeds the 10 pounds at which (Lydia Wright) was determined to weigh.”
Since that evidence was used during Wright’s original trial when he was convicted in May 2019 and sentenced to serve 15 to 40 years in prison, Cordaro granted him a new trial in September.
Attorney General spokesman Brett Hambright said Friday the questions about the girl’s weight when she died forced them to withdraw the third-degree murder charge.
“As we stated in court, evidence established through the (appeals) process contradicted that the child only weighed 10 pounds, and as a result the court granted a new trial,” Hambright said. “Through our own independent evaluation and expert review, we determined that the 10-pound weight figure of the child was indeed erroneous. Consequently, we withdrew the charge that was no longer supported by the evidence.”
Coradaro also ordered Wright to pay a $400 fine as part of his sentence. Wright, who is originally from Waynesburg, had been lodged at the Greene County jail while he awaited a new trial. It’s not known where he is currently living following his release.
Cooper, who served as Wright’s appeals attorney and attended the plea hearing, did not respond to a phone message Friday seeking comment on the case.
Wright and Andrea Dusha, who was Lydia’s mother, were both charged with homicide following the girl’s death. Investigators said Lydia was strapped into a car seat at the couple’s Uniontown residence for more than 12 hours before Dusha brought her to Uniontown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Dusha, 34, who is a Clarksville native, pleaded no contest to third-degree murder in 2019 and was sentenced to 9 ½ to 19 years in prison. A hearing on her post-conviction appeal is scheduled for Aug. 30 before Cordaro.
The couple had been living with their three children in the Carmichaels area, but were evicted exactly one year to the day before Lydia’s death and moved to Uniontown.