LAUREN MICHELE McCONNIEL - 5 yo - (2010) Muncie (NE of Indy) IN

I wish there was something called a torture penalty and that monsters like this were subjected to the same (and worse) torture that they used to kill their victims. This is one of the worst cases of family torture and homicide I have seen. And how Lauren's father could sit around and let it go on is incomprehensible. When is that nasty evil monster Brittany going to be sentenced? I wish she could get 100 years in jail and serve hard labor. And I hope her father and mother get the same. It's just a horrendous story and made me sick to read through it.

i agree with u whole heartedly, BJ.

These sadistic SOB, POSs are the biggest cry babies when they are in prison. I hope they get a daily beat down.

For the chilling admissions he was making, Robert E. Lee spoke in a
calm, low-key manner on Monday, when he acknowledged being a player in
the events that led to the March 2010 death of Lauren McConniel.Lee,
45, of Muncie, pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing neglect of
a dependent, a Class A felony carrying a standard 30-year prison term.
Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. took under advisement a plea
bargain that places a 40-year cap on the prison term Lee could receive,
and tentatively set sentencing for June 4.
Authorities say Lauren became dangerously emaciated and was physically abused
during the final seven months of her life, while staying in a South
Ebright Street house with her father, stepmother and the Lees -- Robert
and his wife, Angela, and their daughter Samra.
Lauren died in an Indianapolis hospital on March 9, 2010, after her apparent
ingestion of a lethal amount of table salt, which caused seizures and
brain injuries from which her malnourished body could not recover.
Last summer, Judge Cannon sentenced Lauren's stepmother, Brittany McConniel
-- Angela Lee's daughter from a previous relationship -- to 50 years in
prison after she was convicted of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
In court on Monday, Robert Lee admitted he had made suggestions to Brittany
McConniel about what his public defender, Doug Mawhorr, called
"different forms of punishment" she could inflict on Lauren.
Those punishments, Lee acknowledged, included forcing the little girl to do
jumping jacks until she collapsed from exhaustion; to hold heavy produce
cans, with her arms extended, for long periods of times; and beatings,
some inflicted with wooden slats on the palms of her hands and the soles
of her feet, and others inflicted with wet towels on her legs.
Lee also said he had done nothing to seek help for Lauren when she was
"wasting away," not being fed regularly and not eating.
"She looked like skins and bones before she went to the hospital, didn't
she?" Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold asked Lee.
"Yes, sir," the defendant responded.And
Lee admitted he didn't contact police or welfare officials about the
abusive acts he had suggested his stepdaughter inflict on her own stepdaughter.
While being questioned by Arnold, Lee said his wife -- also charged with a
Class A felony in Lauren's death -- was aware of the child being abused
and the decline of her health, and did nothing on Lauren's behalf.
Angela Lee's trial is set for May 15 in Cannon's court.
Robert Lee maintained his daughter, Samra -- who faces less severe charges --
was not present when most of the abuse took place.
The plea agreement calls for four lesser charges pending against Robert Lee
to be dismissed. He would waive all rights to appeal his conviction and
whatever sentence would be imposed by Cannon.
After the hearing, Prosecutor Arnold maintained the state had forfeited
little in the plea agreement, noting that Lee likely would have faced no
more than 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
The deal provides for a certain conviction and spares Lauren's survivors --
including her mother and siblings -- the ordeal of yet another trial, he said.
Lee -- who said he could read "a little bit" -- told Judge Cannon he understood
and approved of the plea agreement.
He answered most questions from the attorneys and Cannon on Monday with
simple responses of yes or no.
Lauren's father, Ryan McConniel, has pleaded guilty to a neglect charge that
could result in a prison term of up to 20 years.
During his now-ex-wife's trial last year, Ryan McConniel testified he didn't
do more to protect his daughter in part because he was physically
intimidated by Robert Lee, who is his first cousin.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20120410/BUSTED/204100331

Witness to Lauren's abuse pleads guilty

6:47 AM, Sep 5, 2012
Written by Douglas Walker

MUNCIE — Samra Lee on Tuesday recalled looking on as her sister’s 5-year-old stepdaughter, Lauren McConniel, was forced to hold aloft large cans of tomato juice as a form of punishment.

Lee, now 21, said she did nothing to help Lauren in that instance, or as the child became dangerously emaciated — showing numerous signs of physical and emotional deterioration — before she died in an Indianapolis hospital on March 9, 2010.

Lee on Tuesday pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony carrying a standard 18-month prison term. Under the terms of a plea agreement — taken under advisement by Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. — the Muncie woman could receive up to two years of incarceration.

The judge tentatively set sentencing for Oct. 15.

Authorities say Lauren was neglected and physically abused during the final seven months of her life, spent in a South Ebright Street house with her father, stepmother and three adult members of the stepmother’s family, including Samra Lee.

Lee became the fourth member of that household to be convicted on charges stemming from the child’s death.

• Her stepmother, Brittany Lee, now 26, last year was convicted of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

• The victim’s father, Ryan Neal McConniel, 35, has pleaded guilty to a neglect charge that could send him to prison for up to 20 years. He has yet to be sentenced.

• Robert E. Lee — 45-year-old father of Samra and stepfather of Brittany — in April pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing neglect, and received a 50-year sentence from Cannon.

His wife, Angela L. Lee, 46, is set to stand trial on similar allegations in December.

At Tuesday’s hearing, public defender Sam Beasley detailed various aspects of Lauren McConniel’s deterioration, and then asked his client, “Did you ever contact the Department of Child Services, or the police, or anyone?”

“No,” Samra Lee responded.

The defendant said Lauren appeared to be healthy when she came to live with the McConniels and Lees in August 2009.

Asked by Beasley what she believed would happen if her case went to trial, Lee responded, “I would lose.”

The defendant did not appear eager to respond to questions from Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman about a statement she gave to police that reportedly recounted incidents that saw Robert Lee beating Lauren with a wooden bed slat.

Under the terms of the agreement, a pending misdemeanor charge, failure to immediately report child abuse or neglect, would be dismissed.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20120905/BUSTED/309050021/Witness-Lauren-s-abuse-pleads-guilty?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1

All of these animals should have gotten life in prison for aiding and abetting to the torture and murder of this poor child.

Appeals court upholds Brittany McConniel's conviction

4:45 PM, Sep 11, 2012 |
Written by Douglas Walker

MUNCIE — The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the conviction and 50-year sentence of a Muncie woman whose abuse and neglect of her stepdaughter led to the 5-year-old girl’s death.

A Delaware Circuit Court 5 jury in May 2011 found Brittany McConniel, now 26, guilty of neglect of a dependent causing death.

Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. later imposed the maximum 50-year sentence, citing “the brutal and horrible nature” of McConniel’s crime.

Testimony at the trial indicated young Lauren McConniel became dangerously emaciated during the seven months she spent in the custody stepmother McConniel and the girl’s father, Ryan.

The girl was also subjected to acts of abuse, described by some witnesses as torture, at the hands of Brittaney McConniel, assisted in those efforts by her own stepfather, Robert E. Lee.

Lee last year pleaded guilty to a related charge and received a 40-year sentence.

Ryan McConniel is awaiting sentencing for a neglect conviction that could send him to prison for 20 years.

In its ruling today, the appeals court rejected Brittany McConniel’s arguments that there was insufficient evidence to support her conviction, and that her sentence was overly harsh.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20120911/BUSTED/309110024/Appeals-court-uphold-Brittany-McConniel-s-conviction?nclick_check=1

These people get free housing, free food and many other things paid by tax payers while this little angel is dead. They should ALL get the DEATH penality. That was the deliberate killling of a child.

We need to shout for a NATIONAL DEATH PENALITY for the deliberate killing of a child.

William