DOHA: An appeals court yesterday overturned the convictions of a Los Angeles couple who were sentenced to three years in jail for the death of their adopted African-born daughter.
Matthew and Grace Huang tried to return to the United States after the tribunal found the lower court had made numerous errors, family spokesman Eric Volz told Reuters.
The Huangs were arrested in January 2013 after their 8-year-old daughter, Gloria, died unexpectedly. An autopsy found that the girl had died of “cachexia and dehydration”, and a prosecutor charged the couple with “murder with intent by forced starvation”. They were convicted in April.
The couple argued that Gloria had been suffering from malnutrition-related diseases since they adopted her from Ghana at the age of four, and that the authorities had failed to acknowledge this. The US State Department has been working on the couple’s behalf to appeal against the convictions. It had said that “cultural misunderstandings may have led to an unfair trial.”
A website created to publicise the case (http://freemattandgrace.com) said Matthew Huanghad moved to Qatar with his wife and their three young children in 2012. Gloria died on January 15, 2013, and Qatari police charged the couple the next day. The Huangs spent nearly a year in prison before being released on their own recognisance, awaiting appeal. Reuters
