Ashley, was allegedly beaten with a leather belt and other items. The alleged beatings occurred over two days in an apartment on Main Street in Delaware Water Gap, where Jabrica Trashell Willis and Desiree Richardson lived.

Jabrica Willis, 20, and co-defendant Desiree Richardson, 25, are charged with participating in a series of beatings that led to the death of 9-year-old Ashley Crafton on Nov. 14, 1995.

District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich, citing aggravating circumstances that include the alleged torture of a child, has said he will seek the death penalty for the two women if they are convicted. Richardson allegedly told police she beat Ashley for a half-hour with a leather belt on the day before her death.

Police say Ashley was beaten three times beginning about 5 p.m on Nov. 13, the day before her death. The final beating allegedly occurred about midnight. The first beating allegedly was for eating too much cheese; the last for going to bed without first cleaning her room.

Police allege Richardson used a window blind adjustment rod to beat Ashley until it was broken, then used another rod. Police say Willis held Ashley down during the beating.

Ashley's mother, an admitted drug user, had left her daughter in the custody of Richardson just a few weeks earlier and signed papers naming Richardson as Ashley's guardian.

Richardson is also facing a separate trial on charges she beat Ashley's older sister, Tasha Crafton, who now lives in Pittsburgh.

Tasha told police she was beaten with a belt, an electrical cord or a switch from a tree about every other day between May 1994 and April of 1995. Police estimate the girl was beaten about 180 times, sometimes for no apparent reason, and other times for leaving food on the stove or getting a bad grade in school.

Richardson and Willis have been jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail since their arrest. Jabrica Willis pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and conspiracy, both first-degree felonies.

In exchange for the plea, Jabrica Trashell Willis, 20, escaped the possibility of a death sentence or life in prison for her role in the Nov. 14, 1995, beating death of Ashley Crafton.

Willis admitted to holding down Ashley while she was beaten, allegedly by a woman the child's mother had left her with in an apartment at 123 Main St. In Delaware Water Gap.

As part of the plea agreement, District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich said he will seek a six-year prison sentence for Willis at sentencing. The plea bargain requires that Willis testify against Richardson at her trial.

Richardson, 26, was sentenced in March of 2000 to 25-50 years after pleading guilty to third-degree murder in the beating death of Ashley. On Thursday, she was sentenced for aggravated assault on Ashley's older sister, Tasha.

District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich called Richardson a "monster". Pazuhanich said Richardson treated the sisters like "slaves" who were "tortured on almost a daily basis."

Richardson's court-appointed attorney, Robin Spishock, said Richardson was the product of a rough childhood who ran away from home at 14, a woman with a low IQ who dished out the same kind of "discipline" she received growing up.