The parents of Lacey Fletcher, the 36-year-old woman who was tragically found dead after "melting into a couch" have been sentenced.
Lacey was found dead after her parents called 911 in January 2022 after finding her unresponsive, and first responders were horrified with what they found when they attended the scene in Louisiana.
The young woman was found sunken into a crater in a sofa in the living room, where it is believed she had lain for around 12 years. Her body was emaciated and covered in pressure sores, which had become open wounds infested with maggots, as she lay in her own urine and feces.
Her parents, Clay and Sheila Fletcher, were arrested and spent 18 months denying a charge of second-degree murder after being indicted twice by a grand jury in Louisiana, for which they had faced the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted.
In February, the couple pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of manslaughter in relation to Lacey's death, and their sentencing took place on March 20.
Clay and Sheila were each sentenced to 40 years on Wednesday, with 20 of those to be served in prison and the further 20 suspended, and were ordered to serve five years of supervised probation once they leave prison, according to WAFB 9.
Prior to the sentencing, the court heard over six hours of testimony from 11 different witnesses, and both Clay and Sheila cried, claiming they could have done more to change the outcome of Lacey's tragic life, according to The Advocate.
District Judge Kathryn "Betsy" Jones told the court: "Of all the things I can say about this case, the one thing that keeps coming to mind is that Clay and Sheila Fletcher continually chose the path of least resistance when it came to the care of their daughter."
Lacey's parents had testified that the 36-year-old had allegedly refused medical attention, though prosecutors argues that due to her mental state, she was unable to make that decision.
According to a coroner's report, Lacey weighed just 96lb when she was found, had bones visible through open sores in her flesh, which was also infested with maggots, and had reportedly also tested positive for Covid-19. Her cause of death was ruled to be sepsis due to a combination of multiple conditions, including bone infection, extended immobility, extreme malnutrition, and "severe chronic neglect of a special needs individual."
Judge Jones told the court: "We can argue about whether or not this process took three months, six months, or three years. I don't really care. This was a tragedy. The truth is that Lacey laid on a couch and slowly died because she got no medical or mental health care."
After the sentencing, West Feliciana District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla told the New York Post: "We respect the judge’s decision. If you had a horse that was in the stall behind your house, and you go back there and the flesh is just gone from its body, and you can see bones exposed… You wouldn’t even treat your animal like that."
The attorney added, per The Advocate: "We hope the community receives the message that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated. Watch out for your friends, talk to your neighbors, and make sure this does not happen to anybody else. It's something that could've been prevented."
Neighbors and friends of the couple had reported not having seen Lacey for several years before her tragic death, with her having disappeared from view when she was around 16 years old.
Prosecutors claimed she may have remained on that fetid couch - which her parents claimed she refused to move from - for up to 12 years.
Ewell Bickham, the medical examiner who attended Lacey's death, said that her tragic ending was the worst death he'd ever seen, telling the Post: "I have seen every kind of death and dead body in all my years of this work, but I’ve never seen anything like what happened to Lacey. No one deserves to suffer like that."
Clay and Sheila had claimed that Lacey was "of sound mind" while living with a severe case of Asperger's Syndrome and social anxiety, alleging that she'd refused to leave the couch and that they had brought meals and a potty to her.
They'd also claimed that their daughter suffered from locked-in syndrome, a neurological condition which prevents a person from moving anything except their eyes, however, several sources familiar with the case and the family claimed that was false.
Victim advocate Dana Lovett, who was brought in by prosecutors, told the court last month: "Nobody should have to have lived like she did all these years.
"They had so many resources at their fingertips. Why she didn’t utilize those resources when she was actually almost hand in hand with people that could help is beyond me."
