Parole denied for Oklahoma mom convicted in daughter’s death

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board has again rejected a parole request from a Grady County woman who was convicted in the death of her 13-month-old daughter.

The board’s website shows the parole request of 41-year-old Mary Ann Leadford was denied last week.

Leadford was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1998 after being convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Tessa Leadford. Prosecutors say Leadford allowed her husband, James Patrick Malicoat, to violently beat the toddler over a period of 19 days. Mary Ann Leadford was 20 years old when Tessa died in February 1997 and has now been denied parole at least three times.

Malicoat was convicted of first-degree murder and received a death sentence. He was executed in 2006.