KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Judge Pamela Lightvoet called it one of the most disturbing cases she has ever presided over, as she handed down a mandatory life sentence to Daveeta Walker for the death by torture of her four-year-old daughter.
The body of Kharisma Richardson was found in her bedroom floor on the morning of the toddler’s birthday in March.
Pathologists counted nearly 200 scars, scabs, breaks and bruises on her body but say it was the burns on her feet and the punches to her abdomen that probably killed her.
In her initial interviews Walker claimed she was just disciplining the child because she was not potty trained.
At trial she claimed those confessions were coerced. The jury quickly returned their guilty verdict.
The first-degree conviction means life without chance of parole.
The 25-year-old Walker was also given 50-to-75 years for first-degree child abuse and torture.
