Sacramento prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against a woman charged with murdering her 6-week-old daughter by putting her in a microwave oven.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Ore disclosed his office's decision at a brief hearing today for defendant Ka Yang in Sacramento Superior Court.
Ore, in an emailed statement, cited Yang's lack of criminal background among the factors that went into the office's decision against pursuing capital punishment.
Yang, 30, was arrested in June for the March 17 burning death of her daughter, Mirabelle Thao-Lo, in a microwave oven at the family's north area home in the Robla neighborhood.
Ore said in his statement that Yang still faces a special-circumstance allegation of torture that would likely result in a term of life in prison with no chance of parole if she is convicted.
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