Nov 8, 2009 10:42 am US/Eastern
Death-penalty Trial In Pa. Girl's Death To Open
YORK, Pa. (AP) ―
Opening statements are scheduled Monday in central Pennsylvania in the capital murder trial of a man accused of beating the 2-year-old daughter of his ex-girlfriend to death with a video game controller last year.
Twenty-eight-year-old Harve Johnson, of York, is charged with first-degree murder and other counts in the April 2008 death of Darisabel Baez, who died a day after she was taken to the hospital. Her mother, Neida Baez, pleaded guilty last month to third-degree murder as part of a plea bargain that calls for a five- to 10-year sentence.
York police allege that Johnson beat the girl for 45 minutes to an hour, and an autopsy report calls the wounds "extensive and indicative of torture."
The judge denied defense requests to suppress statements that police allege Johnson made to them but agreed with defense attorney Rick Robinson to bar the use of the word torture in front of the jury.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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