D’Andre Lane, the Detroit father who was recently accused of beating his 2-year old daughter to death over bed-wetting, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Lane was visibly angry in court and had to be escorted from the room after he began calling the judge a “liar” and addressing her by her first name. Lane’s attorney, Terry L. Johnson, said the outburst was “out of character” for his client, but understandable, as he had just been handed a life sentence without hard evidence.
Lane claims that he had his daughter, Bianca, in the car with him last December when they were carjacked and that the men took off in his car with the baby inside it. The car was later recovered; Bianca was not. Her body has never been found, but cadaver-sniffing dogs reacted strongly when investigating the trunk of Lane’s car and the inside of his house. Roommates living in the home testified that Lane had disciplined Bianca with a “long stick wrapped in duct tape” the night she disappeared, which Lane admitted to. But while the jury decided he had beaten her to death and then burned the body in an incinerator to hide the evidence, Lane maintains that his daughter is missing, and is angry that no one will help his family.
“My daughter is alive. She’s missing, she will be found,” Lane said. “It’s easy to point the finger at me. We will correct every wrong that’s taken place in this system.”
The judge, however, disagreed, and says the life sentence will stand despite pleas from Lane’s attorney. There may be an appeal review, however, in the coming months.
“It was your way or the highway,” Judge Vonda R. Evans said. “That poor child — your child, Mr. Lane — you destroyed mentally and ultimately physically … you will now pay with your own life.”