YORK, Pa. (AP) -- A jury in central Pennsylvania has decided on the death penalty for a man who beat his ex-girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter to death.
A York County jury took about two hours Monday afternoon to decide on the death penalty for 28-year-old Harve Lamar Johnson. He beat Darisabel Baez to death with a video game cord and her own hiking boot in April 2008.
The defense presented evidence Monday morning that Johnson was beaten and abused as a child. Prosecutor Tim Barker acknowledged that Johnson's childhood was "appalling," but said it was neither "an excuse nor an explanation" for killing the child. Defense lawyer Ari Weitzman told the jury: "I'm not asking for a pass for him. I'm asking you to save his life."
The girl's mother, Neida Baez, pleaded guilty last month to third-degree murder.
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