DESIREA FRENCH - 8 yo - Pueblo CO

A Pueblo district judge has ruled there is sufficient evidence
to try a Pueblo man for killing his 8-year-old daughter.

John Wesley French, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and
child abuse resulting in death for the April 10 shooting of his daughter Desirea French.


Public Defender Suzanne Reynolds argued that her client should be
bound over for trial on second-degree murder, because prosecutors
had failed to prove French acted with deliberation when his daughter was killed.
Detectives were called to the French's trailer in the Oakwood
Estates trailer park after French's father came home from work and
discovered his granddaughter's body in the living room of the home
and his son laying on a bed with two head wounds.
Detectives with the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office told the court
that they found six bullet holes in the trailer.
Reynolds said that the bullet holes made it appear that the
shooting was random rather than premeditated and that by all
accounts, French was considered a good and doting father by everyone who knew him.
But District Judge Jill Mattoon ruled that there was evidence to
suggest Desirea French was killed by a gunshot from close range.
Detectives told the court that John French had a wound to his
right hand doctors believed was caused by a bullet.
Doctors also told detectives they removed long strands of brown
hair from the wound and there was a burn pattern on the side of the
girl's head, allegedly from the gunshot.
Mattoon said that was enough to suggest both intent and deliberation.
Detective JC Williams told the court Thursday that he conducted a
number of interviews with French, who said he never could remember clearly what happened.
French knew he shot himself twice in the head and knew something
bad happened to his daughter, but never said he remembered shooting her.
Williams told the court French did suggest it couldn't have been
anybody else since they were the only ones in the home that day.
Under cross-examination by Public Defender Albert Singleton,
Williams confirmed that French said he was diagnosed with
depression and bipolar disorder, but wasn't on any medication for the illnesses.
French will be back in court in November.

http://www.chieftain.com/news/local/murder-case-to-go-forward-judge-rules/article_8678e61a-daa7-11e0-8bfb-001cc4c03286.html

Hi my name is Lacie Fernandez and Iam Desirea Frenchs mother.I want to say thank you to the person who put my baby girls story on here.

I am so deeply sorry for your loss. May God grant you the peace that can only come from Him in such a situation, and faith and strength to sustain you.