HONOLULU – The stepmother of a 5-year-old girl prosecutors allege was beaten to death by her father says she and the former soldier abused the girl regularly, escalating to her death.
Delilah Williams testified Friday in the capital murder trial against Naeem Williams that that they decided to pull the girl, Talia, out of elementary school because they worried school officials would notice visible marks of repeated abuse on her body.
The stepmother's testimony satisfies terms of a plea deal she made with prosecutors that will net her a 20-year sentence for her role in the child's death.
Naeem Williams faces the death penalty if convicted of murder in the 2005 death. The federal trial allows prosecutors to pursue the death penalty in a state that doesn't have capital punishment.
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