A Cleburne mother was sentenced to five years in prison Friday after she was convicted of trying to starve her son to death.
Danita Thetford Tutt was convicted of injury to a child by omission and attempted murder. She also was sentenced to 10 years probation.
Fort Worth Police DepartmentThe jury had been deliberating her punishment since Tuesday after she was convicted last week; defense attorneys had asked for probation.
Prosecutors argued Tutt loved the attention she got from having a sick son, so much that she lied about her son Colby's symptoms to doctors which resulted in him suffering through procedures.
Colby weighed just 50 pounds at age 13 because she did not feed him, prosecutors said.
Child Protective Services removed the boy and his younger brother from their Cleburne home in 2016.
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Prosecutors did not recommend a sentence but said they were pleased with the jury’s decision.
“I think it sends a very powerful message because they wanted to make sure she could not be with her children,” said assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Dale Smith. “If another mother’s out there and she’s fabricating symptoms or she’s trying to withhold food from her child for attention, it shows that mother if she continues with that behavior there are going to be serious consequences.”
Though Tutt lives in Cleburne, in Johnson County, she was charged in Tarrant County because prosecutors said the crime happened at a Fort Worth hospital and hospice.
