SOLON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A Kent County woman who was found guilty of murder and child abuse in the death of her 10-month-old daughter was sentenced to prison on Wednesday.
Tatiana Fusari was found guilty of murdering her daughter, Mary Welch, back in October.
She was sentenced in front of Kent County Judge Paul J Denenfeld Wednesday afternoon to life in prison without the possibility of parole on charges of murder and child abuse.
Fusari’s attorney said in court Wednesday that they would be appealing her case as soon as possible.
Fusari will also have to pay fines and court costs.
She did not offer any comments on the stand Wednesday.
Judge Paul Denenfeld, who oversaw Fusari's case, spoke briefly before sentencing her Wednesday, saying, “This is a tragic case from where I’m sitting. I'm not sure that i'll ever understand what these parents were doing or thinking to, I guess I would have to say, literally watch their child starve to death.”
In January 2020, Fusari’s husband, Seth Welch, was also convicted of murder and first-degree child abuse in the death of their daughter.
Fusari testified previously in court that she was abused and tortured by her husband, and that left her unable to care for little Mary.
“I think the evidence was clear that she was, she was beaten and raped, and she had a framed perspective given to her by, you know, her then husband, Seth Welch,” Damian D. Nunzio, Fusari's attorney, told FOX 17 Wednesday afternoon.
“People don't understand the full impact— What that meant... how victims of sexual assault, physical assault, emotional assault, go through these things, and what they have to put up with in order to survive on a day-to-day basis.”
911 calls made by Welch were played during previous court proceedings, which apparently revealed that the couple had put their daughter to bed around 3:30 p.m. the day prior, only checking on her around 10 a.m. the next day.
“So you're saying it is normal for your children to sleep from around 3 p.m. till 10 a.m.?” a dispatcher asks Welch in the call.
“Yeah,” he responds.
Welch tells the dispatcher that they believe the child is dead.
“She’s cold, she’s not breathing, she’s unresponsive,” Welch says in the call.
