Two California parents have each received a sentence of 15 years to life in prison for the starvation death of their three-month-old daughter.
Brandon Copeland, 25, and Elizabeth Ucman, 26, were sentenced Wednesday by a San Diego County court after separate juries convicted them in February of second-degree murder. Prosecutors said the couple starved their daughter Delilah until she weighed 3.64 pounds at her death on November 10, 2021, less than half her birth weight, despite no underlying medical conditions.
The baby died in the parents' City Heights apartment outside San Diego. Authorities noted that social services had previously removed Delilah due to unsafe living conditions but later returned her to the couple.
During the trial, prosecutors presented a recorded conversation in which Copeland told Ucman they were "guilty as s—" and that their actions amounted to murder. District Attorney Summer Stephan said the parents "chose to withhold the care every infant deserves."
Defense attorneys argued the parents were overwhelmed and had themselves suffered abuse as children, though the court imposed the maximum term for each defendant.