THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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HARRISBURG, Pa. - A man convicted of murder for failing to seek medical help for his handicapped daughter for more than a week after she suffered third-degree burns in a scalding bath was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.

Shawn A. Lockett Sr. was given the same seven-to 14-year sentence as his companion, LaShawn Brown, who accidentally put the girl into the hot bath last year. The girl later died.

Quiniece Lockett, 10, was blind and had cerebral palsy, used a wheelchair and could not feed herself. Lockett and Brown apparently treated her with salve but did not call for medical help until she became unresponsive eight days later, authorities said. Prosecutors said the child was already dead when they called for an ambulance.

Dauphin County Judge Joseph H. Kleinfelter sentenced Lockett, 33, after a jury convicted him last month of third-degree murder. Brown, 29, had pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced in May.

At his trial, Lockett testified the burn looked like a sunburn, and that the wounds were bandaged when he saw Quiniece between his working two jobs.

However, police described the sight of the burns as horrible, and a pathologist testified a hospital would have given the girl morphine for the pain.

Prosecutors acknowledged the injury was accidental but said the couple's failure to seek prompt medical attention amounted to murder.