Parents face life in prison for abusing 12 kids
- World
- AP
- Published Date: 09:45 | 22 February 2019
- Modified Date: 09:45 | 22 February 2019
A California prosecutor says the parents who shackled some of their 13 children to beds and starved them will spend up to life in prison.
David and Louise Turpin pleaded guilty Friday in Riverside County Superior Court to torture and other abuse in a case dubbed a "house of horrors." The charges included abuse of their 12 oldest children.
Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin says the couple will be sentenced April 19 to 25 years-to-life in prison.
Hestrin says the guilty pleas were important to protect the children from having to testify.
The children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time, were severely underweight and hadn't bathed for months and the house reeked of human waste when the couple was arrested last year.