SPRINGFIELD, MASS. ? A court ruling Tuesday set the stage for a tragic end to a young, troubled life – and the possibility of murder charges against a stepfather.

For four months, Haleigh Poutre has been in medical and legal limbo, hospitalized in an irreversible coma while the state and the man accused of beating her clashed over whether the 11-year-old should live or die.

The state’s highest court brought the girl’s life closer to an end Tuesday, upholding a juvenile judge’s order allowing the state to remove her ventilator and feeding tube.

Haleigh was hospitalized in September and taken into state custody after a beating authorities say was administered by her stepfather, Jason Strickland, and her adoptive mother, Holli Strickland.