28 replies to this topic

[Lori Davis]

http://www.detroitne...7#ixzz1wHskJfyL

Dad to stand trial for murder in Bianca Jones case

May 29, 2012 at 2:32 pm
By Steve Pardo
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.

[Shannon]

http://www.huffingto..._n_1962278.html

D'Andre Lane Guilty In Murder Of Missing 2-Year-Old Daughter Bianca Jones, Says Jury

10/12/12 02:11 PM ET EDT

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.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.detroitne...TRO01/212030380

Detroit dad given mandatory life in Bianca Jones murder case, calls judge 'liar'

By Christine Ferretti
The Detroit News
December 3, 2012 at 6:45 pm

Detroit — D'Andre Lane insisted Monday that he didn't murder or abuse his missing toddler daughter and called a judge a "liar" for ordering him to prison for life.

"I did not murder my child. I did not abuse my child. I love my children, all of them," said Lane of Detroit in his plea to Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda R. Evans before she imposed the sentence.

"My daughter is alive. She's missing, she will be found. We will correct every wrong that's taken place in this system."

The 33-year-old Detroit man was convicted in October of felony murder and child abuse in the Dec. 2, 2011, death of Bianca Jones. Prosecutors say the father of seven paddled the 2-year-old to death over a bed-wetting incident, disposed of her body at an incinerator and fabricated a carjacking to cover up the crime.

Evans, before she imposed the mandatory minimum penalty, told Lane he used "sex, manipulation, mental abuse and excessive discipline" to control those around him.

"It was your way or the highway," she said. "That poor child — your child, Mr. Lane — you destroyed mentally and ultimately physically … you will now pay with your own life."

The remarks got even more heated when Lane began addressing Evans by her first name, repeatedly calling her "Vonda" and saying "you're a liar" as he was being escorted from the courtroom.

Lane's attorney, Terry L. Johnson, said his client lashed out because he's "upset" and "emotional."

"It was out of character… he was just sentenced to life in prison," Johnson told reporters after the hearing.

Johnson, moments earlier, had urged the judge to grant Lane a new trial, saying there was no evidence to support the conviction, which was a "trial by media," he said.

Lane's defense team at the trial contended that prosecution couldn't prove the father of seven children from seven different women abused or killed Bianca since her body hasn't been found.

Lane has claimed Bianca was in the back seat of his 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis that December morning when he was approached by armed carjackers near Brush Street and Grand River. The car was recovered shortly after, but the girl was not inside. Lane did not call 911.

Bianca's mother, Banika Jones, also addressed the court Monday, saying she was "cheated" by the justice system.

"They never looked for my daughter," she claimed. "They never really cared, they only wanted evidence and a conviction and to close out the case without solving it.

"I want the court to know they made a mistake, and I intend to correct it."

But Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb said the people responsible for caring for Bianca failed and that the jury returned a "correct" verdict.

At trial, Lane's housemates testified that the child had been disciplined with a hard stick wrapped in duct tape in the overnight hours prior to her disappearance.

Lane, in a five-hour videotaped interview with police, admitted he disciplined the child with the stick and said Bianca hadn't slept well after she fell out of bed and hit her head around 1 a.m. He claimed he then used the stick to keep her up.

A contentious piece of evidence in the circumstantial case was testimony from forensic canine expert Martin Grime whose cadaver-sniffing dog allegedly hit on human decomposition in Lane's car and Mitchell Street home two days after Bianca went missing.

Johnson attacked the relatively new scientific method, noting Grime admitted there's no methodology to confirm the response — barking — is accurate when nothing is recovered.

The FBI assisted in investigating the case.

Jurors deliberated for more than seven hours before reaching a verdict in the monthlong trial.

Johnson said Monday that an appeals attorney is expected to review Lane's case.

[Lori Davis]

http://detroit.cbslo...d-bianca-jones/

 

Conviction Stands For Dad In Murder Of Missing 2-Year-Old Bianca Jones

 

November 17, 2014 6:18 PM

 

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – The Michigan appeals court has affirmed the murder conviction of a Detroit man whose 2-year-old daughter has not been found.

The court says there was “sufficient circumstantial evidence” to support D’Andre Lane’s convictions. He was charged with first-degree child abuse and murder committed during another felony.

 

In a 3-0 decision last week, the appeals court rejected challenges to evidence introduced at trial.

 

Lane claimed little Bianca Jones was abducted during a carjacking in December of 2011, a tragic story that led police and volunteers to scour Detroit’s most depressed neighborhoods during the Christmas season. But Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb said an investigation revealed the carjacking never happened, and that Lane concocted the elaborate story to cover up his child’s murder.

 

Throughout the trial, prosecutors painted Lane as an abusive father was obsessed with potty training his children. Prosecutors alleged Lane beat Bianca to death with a stick after wet herself, covered her body with a blanket and put her in her car seat. They said he then drove Bianca’s siblings to school before dumping her body.

 

Police said a cadaver dog detected evidence in a closet at Lane’s home.

 

Lane is serving a no-parole sentence.