https://www.hudsonstarobserver.com/...convicted-child-abuser-hands-down-prison-timeDuring a lengthy speech seeking a probationary sentence, Michaela Sousa singled out the two men who have been fostering her child, placed in their care by Pierce County.
Announcing in court that the men are a gay couple, Sousa said she had been attempting to raise the child through a "life of God" and that the men could not provide the parenting direction she could. Sousa said she feared the child would develop mental disabilities if forced to live without her.
"Incredible, just incredible," Judge James Duvall, responded after Sousa concluded the speech. Duvall said he took great offense at her remarks, especially about the men fostering her daughter. "They are more of a parent than you have demonstrated in your life," the judge told her.
After delivering a lengthy admonition — during which he called Sousa's crime one of the worst child abuse cases he'd seen — Duvall sentenced her to eight years in prison and five years on extended supervision.
He made it a point to call out her comments about the foster parents, saying "I'm absolutely appalled with your attitude toward them" and prohibited Sousa from contacting her daughter or the foster parents. "I want her to grow up not knowing you," Duvall said.
He also pounced on Sousa's repeated claims that the child — discovered to be in severe distress by a nurse who initially noticed the injuries during an appointment for Sousa's care — had made a full recovery. That couldn't be further from the truth, Duvall said.
He said doctors at the trial testified that the girl sustained injuries that will impact her for the rest of her life. Though, Duvall told Sousa, that testimony might have occurred on the day she didn't show up for court. "She has not and she will not" make a full recovery, he said.
The judge picked apart nearly every element of Sousa’s speech, which centered on her attempt to be placed in the Minnesota Adult-Teen Challenge treatment program in lieu of prison; Sousa described how she had already been accepted into the faith-based program, saying leaders there were ready to accept her "with open arms."
"Make the call to send me to further testing and save my life and my daughter's future," she told Duvall. "I'm begging you to please not give up on me."
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