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HOUSTON (AP) — A jury has found a Texas nurse guilty of intentional injury to a child for the systematic poisoning of her young daughter over a three-year period, starting when the child was 9 months old.
The Harris County jury deliberated for more than four hours before returning its verdict in the case against 33-year-old Katie Ripstra of Houston. Jurors will begin hearing testimony Friday in the penalty phase and could sentence Ripstra to up to life in prison.
Defense attorneys tried to persuade jurors that the child almost died from needless treatments at a Houston children's hospital. Jurors, however, put their faith in the prosecution scenario that Ripstra lied to doctors about her daughter's distress, which was caused by salt poisoning.
The child recovered after she was removed from her mother.
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