Outburst In Court As Detroit Dad Sentenced To Life In Daughter's Death
DETROIT (WWJ) - A Detroit father has been sentenced to mandatory life in prison, convicted in the death and disappearance of his young daughter.
Prosecutors said D'Andre Lane faked a carjacking to cover up the slaying of Bianca Jones, 2.
Lane continues to vehemently deny any wrongdoing.
"I just wanna say, first and foremost, I did not murder my child; I did not abuse my child. I love all of my children -- all of them," Lane said in court on Monday.
Lane said there is "no proof whatsoever" that Bianca was killed. Her body has not been found.
"You're the only ones who said she's dead. No one got on that stand and said she's dead. No one said they found evidence that proved she's dead," he said. "But I understand -- this is what you need. You need a conviction; you need somebody to take the fall; you need somebody to take the blame."
Wayne County Circuit Judge Vonda Evans called Lane a man who likes to control others but is unable to control himself.
"You figured that (in) a city plagued with violence, understaffed by police, who would care about the disappearance of your child? But you were wrong," Evans said.
As he was led from the courtroom, Lane called the judge "a liar," a remark that made her furious.
"It's very unfortunate that you made that statement, but I'm going to attribute it to the fact that you're a person that is suffering very deeply because of what you've done," said Evans. "Take him out of here ... Take him out! Take him out!"
A jury convicted Lane on Oct. 12 of first degree murder and child abuse.
Lane told police that Bianca was in the back seat of his car in Detroit's North End neighborhood on Dec. 2, 2011, when the vehicle was taken at gunpoint. The car was found less than an hour later, but Bianca was no longer inside.
Throughout the trial, prosecutors painted Lane as an abusive father who was obsessed with potty training his children. Prosecutors alleged Lane beat Bianca to death after she 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.
The child's mother, Banika Jones, said she believes her daughter was kidnapped and is still alive.
"I feel like we've been greatly wronged; that we have never been considered the innocent victims that we truly were," she told reporters outside the courthouse. "From the very beginning this case we never about looking for my daughter, but about apprehending the guy that they knew did it even thought the evidence never pointed to that."
