KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — It’s guilty on all charges for Daveeta Walker, the Kalamazoo mother who beat, whipped, abused and punched her daughter so many times that the accumulation of injuries eventually killed her.
Prosecutor Jeff Getting said that life in prison without parole is the best they can do for 4-year-old Kharisma Richardson.
“it’s a tragedy for the community that Kharisma will never get to enjoy kindergarten or any of the other things the little girl should have had a chance to experience,” Getting said. “Life without parole was certainly deserved in these circumstances.”
He had a special thank you for the jury in this case for sitting through what he says may have been a disturbing experience for them.
“This was a particularly difficult case factually,” Getting said. “The testimony that heard, the exhibits that they viewed, could have a lasting impact on them.”
The 25-year-old Walker was found guilty of two counts of felony murder. That’s a killing committed in the act of other crimes, in this case, child abuse and torture.
Getting said he wasn’t surprised that Walker denied everything, but once again thanked the jury for seeing through the lies.
The testimony by the pathologist that the little girl had fresh injuries over old scars and not just superficial wounds, but internal injuries, the kind you only see in auto wrecks or long falls, made it obvious that Walker’s claim that she didn’t notice any problems with the girl before she died wasn’t true, Getting said.
The jury was out about four hours. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 7.
