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A Minnesota father was sentenced to just five years in prison for starving his seven-year-old daughter to death on the state’s Red Lake Reservation.
The youngster was described by a judge as being “skeletal” when she died on December 25 2022 because she was “wilfully deprived” of care by her father, 42-year-old Julius Fineday Sr.
He will now serve five years behind bars and two years of supervised release for child neglect District Attorney of Minnesota Andrew Luger announced.
Between January 1, 2022, and December 25, 2022, Fineday deprived the girl of necessary food, health care, and other basic needs despite being “reasonably able” to provide these for her, court documents state.
Authorities say that it was ultimately this neglect that caused the death of the young girl. Fineday pleaded guilty in March 2024 to one count of felony child neglect causing the death of a child and was sentenced on Tuesday in a US District Court.
The man was previously charged with second-degree manslaughter, but the District Attorney did not mention this charge in the release.
The child’s death was thought to be the combined effects of malnutrition and Group A Streptococcal infection, which is caused by bacteria that can develop a series of severe or deadly illnesses, the release stated.
During Fineday’s sentencing, Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz emphasized that he allegedly neglected the young girl in “nearly every way” that a caretaker could neglect a child.
The judge said that Fineday had deprived her of necessary nutrition, did not do anything about the child’s head lice, and even kept her from attending school.
If she had attended school, Judge Schiltz said she would have been able to receive nutritious meals provided there.
On top of this neglect, Fineday was also accused by the judge of not taking the child to see the doctor for around three years, apart from receiving a Covid vaccine, for which the household received cash incentives.
One of the most heartbreaking details highlighted by the judge was that the child was starving, not due to a lack of resources or food in the house, but instead, a lack of care for the girl, the release said.
The judge noted that Minor A was “not just thin, but skeletal” at the time of her death.
Defense attorney Robert Richman argued in a court filing ahead of the sentencing that Fineday should be sentenced for a year, and said the child had "died as a result of poverty, neglect and a family overwhelmed by the burden of caring for 10 minor children. ... Had Indian Family and Children Services intervened sooner, [she] would still be alive,” according to the Star Tribune.
The attorney reportedly argued that Fineday had acknowledged his neglect for the girl and "tried to provide food for [her] and her siblings, and did not realize she was dangerously malnourished."
While the court was sentencing Fineday, they said that the severity of the neglect did warrant an “upward variance” from the usual sentencing guidelines.
However, the court also acknowledged that the man demonstrated “sincere remorse” by pleading guilty even before the trial and without a plea deal.
Judge Schiltz said that this sentence should serve as a reminder that “neglecting or abusing a child will result in negative consequences not only for the child, but also the responsible adult.”
The judge urged carers who are not meeting children’s basic needs to, at a minimum, “pick up the phone” to seek help.
Another person, Sharon Rosebear, who reports say was the girl’s grandmother, was also convicted of felony child neglect in this case following a trial in April 2024, the District Attorney said, awaiting sentencing.
Rosebear, 63, also deprived the child of necessary food and health care in 2022, the District Attorney’s office said earlier this year.
