PORTLAND, Maine - A Maine woman who's serving a 50-year prison sentence for the death of a 4-year-old girl has lost her appeal. A judge found Shawna Gatto guilty of depraved indifference murder in the death of Kendall Chick in her home in Wiscasset in December 2017. On Tuesday, the state supreme court rejected Gatto's claims that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction and that the judge shouldn't have limited questioning of the medical examiner.
The death of Kendall and another girl, Marissa Kennedy, exposed gaps in Maine's child welfare system and prompted outrage.
Since then, there have been changes including the hiring of more caseworkers by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.