Mother guilty of murder in 4-year-old Marchella Pierce starvation death

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - A New York mother was convicted Wednesday in the murder of her 4-year-old daughter, who was drugged, beaten and starved to death.

Jurors deliberated less than an hour before finding Carlotta Brett-Pierce guilty of the most serious charge in the death of her daughter, Marchella. Brett-Pierce faces 25 years to life in prison when she is sentenced June 6.

Loretta Brett, the little girl's grandmother, also faces manslaughter charges and a jury was expected to begin deliberations in that case Thursday. Both defendants pleaded not guilty.

Police found Marchella's body in the home she shared with her mother and grandmother on September 2, 2010. She was bound to her broken plastic toddler bed with a jump rope and had 60 adult doses of Claritin and 30 doses of Benadryl in her system, a medical examiner said.

Prosecuters said Marchella weighed 18.8 pounds, half the weight of an average child her age, and had bruises and cuts on her body.

Although Brett-Pierce acknowledged in her testimony that the girl "had lost weight," she denied harming her daughter and said they were doing the best they could.

"To me, at the time, it didn't look bad," Brett-Pierce said while testifying in the trial. "She looked like a child who wasn't sitting on her booty in the hospital all day. She was outside running around for the first time in her life."

Marchella was born premature with severe medical problems and spent most of her life in hospitals, according to testimony. When she was found dead, her ribs were visible through bruised, scarred and scratched skin, according to CBS New York.

Two child welfare caseworkers once assigned to the family were charged with criminally negligent homicide for their handling of the case. They have pleaded not guilty.

The murder trial shined some light on fresh cracks in the city's child wefare system. According to CBS New York, Brett-Pierce was on the radar of the city's child welfare system after she gave birth to a boy who tested positive for drugs. She was in drug counseling, but no abuse cases were opened, and the Administration for Children's Services admits it did not do enough to help her or her three children.

As she was led away, Brett-Pierce said she was charged falsely. Her attorney, Alan Stutman, said he would appeal, and said the case was more about a system that failed a mother who needed help.

Complete coverage of the death of Marchella Pierce on Crimesider