Uniontown mom pleads no contest to starving child to death, will get new trial

A judge says a woman from Uniontown pled no contest to starving her child to death, will get a new trial based on new evidence.

It took just a few minutes for Fayette County Judge Linda Cordaro to tell Andrea Dusha she would get another trial on charges she and the child's father, Michael Wright Jr., starved their 23-month-old daughter Lydia to death inside their Uniontown apartment in 2016.

"Today was an important step in righting a wrong that happened here, that an innocent woman was convicted of murdering her child whenever the child in fact died of natural causes," said defense attorney Rob Perkins. 

The judge's decision comes after Michael Wright Jr. was given a new trial after the now deceased Dr. Cyril Wecht recanted his original autopsy findings that the child starved to death and was dehydrated, as he initially determined. Wright was released from prison and ultimately pleaded guilty to lesser charges. 

"Andrea and I just never had an opportunity to fight for ourselves correctly in Fayette County, but now we are. And now you see what has happened. I'm free, she's free," Wright said. 

"She shouldn't be treated any worse than Michael Wright," said Perkins. 

Now it's up to Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele to retry Dusha or offer her the same deal as Wright. 

"She just got relief, we're just back at square one now," said defense attorney Ryan James. 

"The attorney general has already conceded that the evidence is insufficient to support a homicide charge. It's our hope that this district attorney's office prosecuting Andrea Dusha does the same thing," said Perkins.

There's been no word yet on what Aubele's next move is about Dusha's potential retrial. 

"We're not all the way there, but this was a necessary step in the right direction," said Perkins.