Posted on 10/05/2005 1:55:23 PM PDT by TWohlford
Henry V. Lott either botched the planned murder of his daughter or thought wrapping her in cellophane was therapeutic.
Both the prosecution and defense attorney described Lott's actions April 19 as not very bright.
"He did something stupid," defense attorney Jerry Engle told a jury Tuesday.
Stupid, but with deadly intent, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer said.
"Henry Lott is an amateur when it comes to murder," he said in final arguments. "He performed an incompetent effort to kill her."
Circuit Judge Charles Nelson handed the case to the jury Tuesday afternoon, and it was unable to reach a verdict in three hours. Deliberations resumed this morning.
Prosecutors charged Lott with attempted murder, child abuse, heroin possession and domestic violence. He planned to kill his 16-year-old daughter because she had broken up his marriage, and to save $520 a month in child support, Blumer alleges.
Lott, a corrections officer, wrapped his daughter in plastic two times at her Springport home on April 19, each time covering her nose and mouth. He told state police it was to "sweat out" a fever.
The girl, who has since turned 17 and does not live with either parent, testified she was not sick. Her dad talked her into skipping school so that he could take her shopping, she said.
During the ordeal, she said, he pressed his hand over her nose and mouth, and then covered her head with a pillow. She was able to breathe, she said.
Under the prosecution's theory, Lott planned to subdue his daughter until she passed out or went to sleep, and then he would inject her with a fatal dose of heroin. Both times he wrapped her, however, he set her free or she got loose.
Police said they found two packets of heroin on the floor of a patrol car in which Lott was transported. Engle said there is no proof it was Lott's: He has no history of drug use or selling drugs, and police did not find it in a pat-down search.
Lott kept a garbage bag of evidence in his truck all day April 19, rather than throw it away, Engle argued. Police found plenty of plastic wrap, but no syringe.
One potentially big issue is the girl's credibility. She has stolen money and a camera and once pleaded guilty of filing a false police report, Engle pointed out. Her mother, stepmother and father admitted she has been a troubled teen who bounced between homes.
Last spring, she had moved out of her father's house and back to her mother's house, apparently because he tried to be strict.
Lott, who did not testify, admitted to police he wrapped his daughter in plastic, but only to break her fever. He denied any plan to hurt or kill his daughter.
Engle argued the girl embellished her story to get her father in trouble, and to cover the fact she had skipped school again.
"This was a perfect excuse for her not to go back to Dad's," Engle said.
Freerep had a post when this broke. I figured some would want to see the outcome.
You'd have found as we did.
There was considerable opinion that someone "fixed" / "planted" some of the evidence. That pretty much killed any hope of the heroin deal. W/O the heroin the murder thing fell apart.
The domestic violence deal involved "assult" and that didn't fit the crime.
I had to read it twice before I noticed that the girl "once pleaded guilty of filing a false police report." I wouldn't have believed anything she said at face value after that. The heroin charge would be tough to convict him on being it wasn't found in a pat down search. But still, his story is really odd. Glad I wasn't on the jury.
In my case, anything the girl said wasn't worth sh*t unless she had evidence. However, part of the evidence was physically impossible... the one "hat" allegedly used on her head was wayyyy too small, as was the alleged body wrap.
So, we ended up w/ only what the defendant confessed to during the State Police interview. If he would've exercised his Fifth Amendment rights he'd be free today.
For a moment I thought that TRENT Lott had really gone off the rails!
What was his intent in smothering her?
"What was his intent in smothering her?"
If you wrap your face in plastic wrap you'll notice that you actually have to WORK to make it so you CAN breathe! Otherwise you'll suck the wrap into your mouth and nose and it will suffocate you.
If he wanted to kill her, she'd been dead.
In addition, the one "hat" that I accepted as probably being used was made so you could breathe (but not easily).
I think he wanted to play a few dominance / BDSM games. That wasn't proposed by the prosecution, but that's my theory. Google BDSM + plastic wrap (one search) and see what I mean.
Unless he were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and incapable of successfully wrapping it correctly.
" Unless he were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and incapable of successfully wrapping it correctly."
No evidence of that. Besides, she's alive. It he wanted to kill her she'd be dead, either by suffocation or by some other means.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.