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Look: Here's Why the Wife of a Partially Paralyzed Man Found With Maggots in Open Wounds Will Serve Time for His Death

Their apartment was full of rotting food, garbage and human feces.

Dormanicia Lawson, 37, of Concord, California, will serve a four-year term in prison in charges related to the death of her paraplegic husband, reported East Bay Times.

On December 30, 2015, Mark Fulgham, 36, was found by officials covered in maggots with rotting wounds. He died the next day in the hospital from a bacterial infection. Lawson was then arrested and charged with murder.

Lawson’s served as a caretaker to Fulgham and his two sons, a 19-year-old with severe autism and an 11-year-old.

When police went to Lawson’s apartment, they smelled an “awful odor” and there were cockroaches, maggots and flies. Both of Lawson’s children were found with a “foul odor and were dirty,” Corporal Christopher Blakely, the Concord police spokesperson, told People.

Last month, Lawson went to trial where she faced abuse and neglect charges surrounding Fulgham’s children and a murder charge.

Although she was convicted of the two abuse counts related to her children, when it came to her husband’s murder charge, the jury split 8-4. However, last week Lawson settled an agreement with county prosecutors to plead guilty to the abuse charge. The murder charge has since been dropped.

Prosecutors made Lawson the offer “using the outcome of the last trial as a predictor of the expected result of a second trial,” deputy district attorney Jill Henderson said.

The abuse charges are not considered violent offenses under state law. This means that during her prison time, she could be released early on good behavior. Lawson will be eligible for release after serving two years.  

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