Yakima woman gets 10 years for starving twin 8-year-old girls

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — A Yakima woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for abusing her 8-year-old twins. The girls were found emaciated when they were rescued from the home.

The Yakima Herald-Republic says 29-year-old Kai Martinez was sentenced Wednesday in Yakima County Superior Court.

Her lawyer had hoped she would spend half that time in a drug treatment program, but the judge sided with prosecutors in giving her 10 years in prison.

Martinez pleaded guilty in April to two counts each of third-degree child assault and first-degree criminal mistreatment. She admitted to withholding food and other basic needs.

Doctors said the girls weighed less than 44 pounds each, less than half of what they should have weighed. The girls were allegedly so focused on food that when they were rescued, they insisted the TV in their hospital room stay tuned to the Food Network, the Herald-Republic reports.

“I have never seen neglect and malnourishment to that level,” doctors said. “The only thing I can compare it to are pictures of Holocaust survivors.”

Court papers say the girls told police they'd been abused, starved and locked in a bedroom before cousins rescued them Feb. 6.