Pennsylvania

Parents convicted of starving son to death

A couple was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday for starving their 4-year-old son to death, but a mistrial was declared on the more serious charge of third-degree murder after the jury deadlocked.

Whether prosecutors would retry the murder charge was not immediately clear. The parents, Anthony E. and Shenique T. Thomas, of Carlisle, also were convicted of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

When their son, Quincy, died last year, he weighed 20 pounds, and mattress stuffing and building insulation were found in his digestive tract and under his fingernails, prosecutors said.

Quincy’s death was “a direct result of the active and willful neglect of his parents,” prosecutor David J. Freed said in closing arguments Wednesday.

INDIANAPOLIS

Prosecutor charges five with donating bad blood

An Indiana prosecutor is dusting off a little-used law to charge five HIV-infected people with knowingly selling tainted blood to a plasma center.

At least 15 states, including Indiana, have penalties for attempting to sell or donate HIV-positive blood. But charges are rare.

“When the information first came to us, I was blown away,” said Carl Brizzi, prosecutor in Marion County, which includes Indianapolis. “There were five people out there who knew they had HIV, but for 20 bucks, were willing to possibly infect who knows how many men, women and children.”

The AIDS virus was detected through routine screening, and the plasma was rejected.