Woman gets up to 10 years in death of daughter

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

Circuit Judge Michael Town sentenced the mother of a 2-year-old P?lolo girl who was killed in 1994 to 3¡ to 10 years in prison.

Dorothy-Marie Faufata, who was found guilty of manslaughter in August by Town following a jury-waived trial, told Town that she grieves every day for her first-born daughter, Natasha Faufata, and that she doesn't wish the death of a child on any parent.

Town said that although he felt Faufata was sincere in her statements about grieving over her daughter's death, she had an obligation to seek prompt medical attention for the little girl when she lapsed in and out of consciousness on the day she died, a few hours after being struck on the head.

In addition, Faufata must surely have known that her daughter was being battered and tormented given the broken arm and cigarette burns on the soles of her feet that were present when the little girl died, Town said.

Town found Faufata and former husband David Martinez guilty of "manslaughter by omission" for failing to seek prompt medical treatment for the toddler.

Martinez is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow.

Faufata's attorney Chester Kanai portrayed her as a caring but not perfect mother and suggested that it was Martinez who likely beat and burned the girl, who was his step daughter. He asked that Faufata be placed on probation.

City Deputy Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado, however, said Faufata cared about her daughter all the way up to the point where she needed her mother most, and then abandoned her.

"She let her partner brutalize Natasha," Arrisgado said. "He beat her, he burned her, he broke her. She (Faufata) could have ended it, but chose not to," Arrisgado said.

Town ordered Faufata to serve at least 3 1/3 years in prison before she is eligible for parole.