Judge denies bond for Uniontown man awaiting murder retrial
Herald-Standard
A Uniontown man convicted in 2019 of third-degree murder in the death of his 23-month-old daughter will remain behind bars while awaiting his retrial.
Fayette County Judge Linda Cordaro denied nominal bond Thursday for Michael Lynn Wright Jr., 40.
His attorney, Jeremy Benjamin Cooper, argued that Wright was granted a new trial in August, and Pennsylvania law states a defendant cannot remain incarcerated for over 120 days without good cause. An appeal of that decision by the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office was dismissed in Superior Court on Dec. 27.
However, Kevin Scheibel of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, who is prosecuting the case, as the Fayette district attorney’s office recused itself, said the appeal was dismissed Dec. 27, and that’s when the 120-day rule took effect.
Cordaro agreed, saying the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas has no jurisdiction over the case from the time of the appeal to the appeal’s dismissal.
Scheibel said the 120-day period will end April 27.
Both Wright and his girlfriend, Andrea Dusha, 34, of Uniontown, were charged in their daughter, Lydia Wright’s, death. Prosecutors contended they left the girl strapped in a car seat at their Uniontown home for more than 12 hours on Feb. 24, 2016, leading her to die from malnutrition and dehydration hours before Dusha brought her to the hospital for treatment.
In 2019, Wright was convicted by a jury and sentenced to serve 15 to 40 years in prison. Dusha pleaded no contest to third-degree murder and was sentenced to 9 ½ to 19 years in prison. A post-conviction appeal is pending in her case.
A February 2023 report from a medical expert hired to review the records contended the weight reported by pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht was incorrect, and the child’s weight far exceeded the 10 pounds at which Lydia Wright was determined to weigh.
Prosecutors argued the girl died from malnutrition and dehydration.
Dr. Jennifer Hammers, who formerly worked for Wecht, wrote that, based on the autopsy and coroner’s reports, her opinion stated that Lydia Wright did not show conclusive signs of dying of malnutrition and dehydration.
Cordaro set a pretrial conference for 9 a.m. March 8.
Wright is lodged in Greene County Prison.