http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3139636/Father-wife-weep-court-hearing-let-daughter-5-die-severe-dehydration-malnourishment-face-murder-torture-charges.html
'Abuser' parents finally weep as court hears horrific details of how they 'starved daughter, 5, to just 25 pounds before her death'
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on murder and torture charges
They called police to their home on May 26 when his daughter Mackenzie, 5, suddenly went unconscious
Mackenzie died soon after suffering from severe dehydration and malnutrition and weighing just 25 pounds
She also had numerous bruises on her body and multiple infections
Her sister Makayla, 3, weighed just 17 pounds and was also severely malnourished and dehydrated
She survived and has since been moved to a foster home
By Chris Spargo For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:07 EST, 25 June 2015 | Updated: 01:49 EST, 26 June 2015
A father and his wife who are charged with murdering his daughter wept in court on Thursday as lawyers detailed the abuse and torture that led to the young girl's death.
Andrew and Hilery Maison of Port Huron, Michigan will stand trial on charges of murder, two counts of torture and two counts of first-degree child abuse in the death of Mackenzie Maison, Andrews 5-year-old daughter.
Mackenzie was found dead at the couple's home on May 26 weighing just 25 pounds, while her 3-year-old sister Makayla, who managed to survive, weighed just 17 pounds.
Both girls were severely malnourished and dehydrated.
'These children were dying in front of these defendants, and they did absolutely nothing while they are taking adequate and appropriate care of the other two children,' Senior Assistant Prosecutor Mona Armstrong said in court Thursday according to The Times Herald.
Andrew and Hilery were at times quiet, and other times seen openly crying in court.
Despite their tears however, the prosecution argued that these girls ahd been suffering for a long period of time.
'Malnutrition alone doesn’t occur in a day or two days or, really, in a week. Malnutrition is more a prolonged type of a process,' Dr. Daniel Spitz, medical examiner for St. Clair County, testified in court.
'I think I can say this child was malnourished over a period of months and, more likely, years.'
Mackenzie's body was also bruised in numerous places and she had multiple infections
Makayla meanwhile drank four glasses of water when police arrived - after the couple called them when Mackenzie suddenly went unconscious - and could barely stand up according to their report.
She was also so weak she had trouble biting into an apple at the police station.
She was released from the hospital on June 1 and is now in foster care.
Michael Boucher, Hilery’s lawyer, and Frederick Lepley, Andrew’s lawyer, argued that the two did not knowingly deprive the girls of nutrition.
The results of Mackenzie's autopsy have not yet been released.
The girls' mother, Shelby Coffee, had lost custody of the two in 2013.
