05-29-2012, 04:44 PM
The Detroit News:
Detroit— The father of a missing 2-year-old who claimed his daughter disappeared after he was carjacked was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on first-degree murder and child abuse charges.
D'Andre Lane had claimed his daughter, Bianca Jones, was in the backseat of his 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis when he was approached by carjackers Dec. 2. The vehicle was found shortly after the alleged incident, but Bianca wasn't inside. Her body has not been found.
Carin Goldfarb, assistant Wayne County prosecutor, hammered home a 45-minute gap between phone calls Lane allegedly made the day of the incident. Goldfarb noted cell phone records had Lane making a call at 8:55 a.m. and then calling a friend at 9:40 a.m. It was the friend from the second call that dialed 911.
"The defendant was disposing of his dead baby's body," Goldfarb said. "That's what he was doing for those 45 minutes."
Prosecutors allege that Lane beat Bianca to death with an 18-inch stick with a towel wrapped in duct tape at the end.
Terry Johnson, Lane's Southfield attorney, said Lane "spanked" the child with the stick but that there was no evidence of child abuse or murder.
"Their whole case is based upon he spanked her," Johnson said Tuesday to 36th District Court Judge Ruth Carter. "The only established fact we know is that Mr. Lane spanked Bianca that night."
Carter disagreed. She brought up the testimony last month of Anjali Lyons, Lane's girlfriend. Lyons testified she was woken up to the sounds of Bianca screaming and being beaten on the morning of the day she disappeared.
"It woke her up, which speaks a lot to what was going on," Carter said.
Carter also said the earlier testimony of another of Lane's daughters, 7, was important. The girl remembered the morning of the disappearance her sister "didn't move" that morning.
Lyons said Lane often used the stick to discipline Bianca during potty-training. Lane admitted to using the stick, which he told police was "about the size of a pen" on the girls. "It's just to let them know they did something bad; you know what I mean?" Lane said, according to police transcripts read in court Tuesday.
Lane's next court date was scheduled for June 5 in Wayne Circuit Court.
Detroit— The father of a missing 2-year-old who claimed his daughter disappeared after he was carjacked was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on first-degree murder and child abuse charges.
D'Andre Lane had claimed his daughter, Bianca Jones, was in the backseat of his 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis when he was approached by carjackers Dec. 2. The vehicle was found shortly after the alleged incident, but Bianca wasn't inside. Her body has not been found.
Carin Goldfarb, assistant Wayne County prosecutor, hammered home a 45-minute gap between phone calls Lane allegedly made the day of the incident. Goldfarb noted cell phone records had Lane making a call at 8:55 a.m. and then calling a friend at 9:40 a.m. It was the friend from the second call that dialed 911.
"The defendant was disposing of his dead baby's body," Goldfarb said. "That's what he was doing for those 45 minutes."
Prosecutors allege that Lane beat Bianca to death with an 18-inch stick with a towel wrapped in duct tape at the end.
Terry Johnson, Lane's Southfield attorney, said Lane "spanked" the child with the stick but that there was no evidence of child abuse or murder.
"Their whole case is based upon he spanked her," Johnson said Tuesday to 36th District Court Judge Ruth Carter. "The only established fact we know is that Mr. Lane spanked Bianca that night."
Carter disagreed. She brought up the testimony last month of Anjali Lyons, Lane's girlfriend. Lyons testified she was woken up to the sounds of Bianca screaming and being beaten on the morning of the day she disappeared.
"It woke her up, which speaks a lot to what was going on," Carter said.
Carter also said the earlier testimony of another of Lane's daughters, 7, was important. The girl remembered the morning of the disappearance her sister "didn't move" that morning.
Lyons said Lane often used the stick to discipline Bianca during potty-training. Lane admitted to using the stick, which he told police was "about the size of a pen" on the girls. "It's just to let them know they did something bad; you know what I mean?" Lane said, according to police transcripts read in court Tuesday.
Lane's next court date was scheduled for June 5 in Wayne Circuit Court.
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