|
Jury:
Detroit
dad
guilty
in
missing
child's
death
DETROIT
- A
Detroit
father
who
prosecutors
say
faked a
carjacking
to cover
up the
slaying
of his
2-year-old
daughter
was
found
guilty
Friday
of
first-degree
murder
and
child
abuse.
D'Andre
Lane sat
silent
as the
Wayne
County
Circuit
Court
jury
foreman
read the
verdicts
on both
charges.
Lane,
32,
faces
life in
prison
when
sentenced
on Nov.
16.
"This
has been
a very
long and
very
emotional
case for
everyone
involved,"
Judge
Vonda
Evans
told the
court.
Lane
told
police
that his
daughter,
Bianca
Jones,
was in
the back
seat of
his car
in
Detroit's
North
End
neighborhood
on Dec.
2 when
the
vehicle
was
taken at
gunpoint.
The car
was
found
less
than an
hour
later,
but the
girl was
no
longer
inside.
Bianca's
body has
never
been
found.
"Nothing
is gonna
bring
her
back,"
said
assistant
prosecutor
Qiana
Lillard.
"We're
just
gonna
respect
the
jury's
decision,
and
we're
glad
they did
the
right
thing."
Prosecutors
argued
during
the
trial
that
Lane
beat his
daughter
to death
using a
stick
wrapped
in a
towel,
disposed
of her
body,
then
faked
the
carjacking
to cover
up the
murder.
Lane,
who has
fathered
seven
children
with
seven
women,
admitted
to
officers
during
questioning
that he
had
spanked
the
child
for
wetting
herself.
Another
assistant
prosecutor,
Carin
Goldfarb,
told
jurors
that
Lane
believed
toddlers
who have
accidents
"should
be
physically
punished."
Police
and
dozens
of
volunteers
scoured
city
neighborhoods,
poking
through
mounds
of trash
and in
vacant
homes
and
garages
calling
out
Bianca's
name.
But the
searches
dwindled
after
several
days and
eventually
authorities
gave up.
The
handler
of a
cadaver-sniffing
dog
testified
at
Lane's
trial
that the
dog
detected
the
smell of
a body
in his
car and
in
Bianca's
bedroom.
Defense
attorney
Terry
Johnson
said
during
the
trial
that
prosecutors
had
uncovered
no
physical
evidence,
that
Lane had
been
distraught
at his
daughter's
disappearance
and that
he had
cooperated
with
police.
"He was
as
surprised
as we
were by
the
verdict,
based
upon
what we
believe
is a
lack of
evidence,"
Johnson
said.
"We're
obviously
disappointed.
The jury
put
forth a
verdict,
and we
have to
respect
that.
Mr. Lane
still
maintains
his
innocence
in
this."
An
appeals
attorney
will
review
the
case, he
added. |