Mother who
fatally kicked tot
is convicted

She faces up to 20 years
in prison and may lose
her other children

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

One of Tufano Fale's battles is over.

A jury yesterday found that the 24-year-old mother who caused her 2-1/2-year-old daughter's death with kicks to her stomach and back committed manslaughter instead of murder as charged.

Jurors, who deliberated for only two hours, found that Fale recklessly killed Logise with her foot, but didn't act intentionally or knowingly, said Deputy Public Defender Debra Loy.

She faces up to 20 years instead of life with parole when she is sentenced Oct. 16 before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins.

"My client knows she faces a lot of time in prison," Loy said. "But she is very happy. She's been able to tell her story."

Fale, who was six months pregnant at the time of the Sept. 14, 1997, incident, will now fight to keep her parental rights in a case pending in Family Court, Loy said.

She has three children, 5 and 4 years old and 6 months old, and a divorce petition has been filed, she said.

Deputy Prosecutor Thalia Murphy said she would seek a mandatory minimum term of 15 years for Fale, who would have faced life in prison with parole if she had been convicted of murder.

Loy said Fale's mandatory minimum sentence for manslaughter for causing the death of a person under 8 was six years and eight months.

The state's parole board will set a separate minimum term after sentencing. Board members have been starting in the mid-range of a sentence and moving up or down, based on prior criminal history and the seriousness of the offense.

Murphy said she believed that Fale tried to kill her child, who cried "Mommy, Mommy" after kicks to her stomach.

She also said she didn't know how the jury sorted out testimony from a forensic pediatric pathologist, who said the toddler would have been unable to eat or walk because of excruciating pain.

"I believe the child suffered a painful and horrible death," Murphy said.

Fale testified that she kicked Logise three or four times after she had scattered clean laundry. She said she took her frustrations out on her child, but didn't realize how hard she had kicked her.

She also said Logise behaved normally in the hours after the 10 a.m. incident, giving her no hint that she was suffering from an abdominal rupture.

The state's medical expert said Logise died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen in which her small intestine tore and food spilled into the cavity, causing an infection.

Murphy said the child would have lived if Fale had taken her for treatment after she kicked her.

Loy said jurors may have felt that the expert didn't prove her medical conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt. She also said it didn't appear that jurors found Fale was reckless by failing to seek medical treatment.

Loy had argued to jurors that Fale was under the influence of emotional distress when she kicked her daughter.

Federal prosecutors originally charged the case as voluntary manslaughter, which carries up to 10 years in prison in the federal system.

But they transferred jurisdiction to the state, which has stiffer manslaughter penalties and also could seek murder for causing the death or for failing to seek care.