David and Louise Turpin, the parents whose13 childrenwere found shackled and malnourished in their suburban California home that became known as the “House of Horrors,” were sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison.
Under the terms of their sentence, it’s possible for them to get parole after 22 years and four months, a spokesperson for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office tells PEOPLE.
In February, the Perris couple eachpleaded guiltyto 14 felony counts including cruelty to an adult dependent, child cruelty, torture and false imprisonment in Riverside Superior Court.
At the time, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said his office pursued a plea agreement in the case to ensure the victims didn’t have to testify about the abuse they suffered.
“We decided that the victims have endured enough torture and abuse,” he said.
David-Louis Turpin/Facebook
Responding officers found ascene of malnutrition and squalorat the Turpin residence, with some of the children chained to the furniture. Prosecutors said the parents beat, strangled and starved the kids in an intensifying cycle of abuse dating back to at least 2010 when the family lived in Texas.
Jae C. Hong/AP
Among other disturbing behavior, the Turpin family slept all day and were “up all through the night,” going to bed about 4 or 5 a.m. The children were forbidden to shower more than once a year and none had ever seen a dentist. They hadn’t seen a doctor in years.
The children were fed very little and some suffered “severe caloric malnourishment,” prosecutors said.
However, the couple had purchased enough food for themselves and would leave some of it, including pies, out on the counter where their children could see — but could not eat it.
IRFAN KHAN/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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The siblings “lacked a basic knowledge of life” when they were recovered from the Turpin residence, prosecutors said.
The Turpin’s then 29-year-old daughter weighed 82 lbs. when she was found.
In January, Jack Osborn, the attorney for the seven adult children, told NBC that the siblings were “not bitter.They really take every day as it is, as a gift.”
Osborn said the children “came from a situation that seemed normal to them. And now they’re in a new normal. And so I think they may spend a long time processing the two.”
He added, “For really the first time they’re able to make their own decisions, and decide what they’re going to eat. They decide where they’re going to go, what they’re going to study.”
source: people.com
