Bellevue parents plead not guilty to starving baby

SEATTLE — The Bellevue couple accused of underfeeding their baby daughter have pleaded not guilty to criminal mistreatment charges.

Twenty-four-year-old Sam Labberton and 21-year-old Brittainy Labberton were arraigned Monday in King County Superior Court.

KOMO News reported a judge ordered them to have no contact with the baby and an older daughter except for supervised visits. The parents are due back in court on March 1.

Prosecutors allege the mother has said she didn’t want her daughter to be fat, and the father believed the baby was underweight because she “spit up all the time.”

The baby was hospitalized at 2 months after failing to gain sufficient weight. Officials say she gained weight in the hospital and in a foster home.

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