Sep 23, 2025 By Garrett Neese 3 min read

A Mount Pleasant woman who had served more than nine years in prison after the death of her 23-month-old daughter was sentenced to time served on lesser charges.

“Thank you for listening to the evidence … it’s just a weight off my shoulders,” Andrea Dusha told Fayette County Judge Linda Cordaro at Monday’s hearing.

Dusha, 36, pleaded no contest to charges of child endangerment and reckless endangerment. She was sentenced consecutively on the counts, which together carried a maximum sentence of nine years.

Dusha and Michael Wright, Jr., 41, both Greene County natives, were both convicted of third-degree murder in the death of their daughter, Lydia. Police said the girl weighed 10 pounds and died of malnutrition.

But forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who had made the original report of the child’s weight, later retracted his findings after another pathologist determined the girl weighed substantially more at the time of her death.

Cordaro had ordered a retrial for Dusha on all three counts in June. She had been incarcerated from March 17, 2016 to May 1, when she was granted non-monetary bond.

Her case followed the same path as Wright’s. Originally sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison, he was granted a new trial in 2023. After his third-degree murder charge was dropped, he pleaded guilty to child endangerment and reckless endangerment. By that time, he too had served more than the maximum sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Melinda Dellarose said after Wecht’s retraction and the inability to find other expert testimony similar to his earlier findings, “the commonwealth cannot sustain its burden in proving the cause of death.”

On both of the remaining counts, said Dusha attorney Robert Perkins, “there is evidence to satisfy the elements” needed to convict on those charges.

Under questioning from Cordaro, Dusha said she understood the no contest plea, and acknowledged there would have been a factual basis for the remaining charges against her.

Asked if she was satisfied with her legal counsel, Dusha had an unequivocal answer.

“They’re the most amazing people I’ve ever met,” she said. “I’m really satisfied.”

Outside the courtroom, Dusha and her attorneys exchanged hugs. She declined to comment after the hearing.

Dellarose and Perkins did not respond to messages left seeking comment Monday.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Cordaro commended both sides for reaching a compromise.

“In the court’s view, this was the best result, so I appreciate it, and I wish you the best,” she said.