Two California parents have been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after their 3-month-old daughter died weighing less than half her birth weight.
Brandon Copeland, 25, and Elizabeth Ucman, 26, were each convicted in February of second-degree murder in the death of their infant daughter, Delilah. Separate juries heard the cases against each parent before reaching their verdicts.
Police were called to the couple’s City Heights apartment, near San Diego, in November 2021 after a report that the infant was unresponsive. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Both parents were taken into custody shortly after.
Prosecutors said the baby had no underlying medical conditions and that her death resulted solely from prolonged starvation and neglect. Officials described her decline as gradual and visible, stating that the parents never sought help or medical care despite clear signs something was wrong.
Court records show that shortly after Delilah’s birth, social workers had flagged the couple’s living conditions as unsafe for a newborn and placed her in the temporary custody of a relative. She was returned to her parents about a month later, even though several family members had raised concerns about substance abuse and mental health issues in the household.
During the trial, prosecutors presented a recorded conversation between the two parents after their arrest, in which they appeared to acknowledge what had happened to their daughter.
The defense argued that both parents had difficult upbringings and were overwhelmed, asking the court to consider the full picture rather than view their actions as purely malicious.
The district attorney’s office pushed back strongly on that framing, saying the baby had entered the world healthy and that her parents chose to withhold the basic care every infant needs.
With sentencing now complete, both parents face decades behind bars.
