ELLIJAH BURGER - 23 months - (2008) / On trial: Father, Lanaeziah Burger - Charlotte, NC

Girl says she hid as brother was killed

Sister, 10, tells jury she was scared during beating

gwright@charlotteobserver.com

By Gary L. Wright The Charlotte Observer
Posted: Friday, Mar. 01, 2013
Modified: Friday, Mar. 01, 2013


Andre Hampton, accused in the beating death of his 23 month old son.

Lanaeziah Burger told jurors Thursday that she hid in the cabinet under the sink while her 23-month-old brother was being spanked.

“I was scared,” the 10-year-old recalled.

Lanaeziah testified in the murder trial of Andre Hampton, who is accused of killing her brother, Ellijah Burger, in November 2008. Hampton, 27, is not her father.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Lanaeziah told the jurors that Ellijah got in trouble that day for not eating his food. She said Ellijah was spanked with a belt, hard. Her brother was running around the room while the beating took place.

The fifth grader told jurors that Ellijah had black and blue bruises.

“Where were they on his body?” the prosecutor asked.

“Everywhere,” she replied.

Lanaeziah told jurors that she also got in trouble that day “for not doing what I was supposed to do.” Lanaeziah, who was 6 at the time, told jurors she was supposed to remain in the push-up position. Instead, she sat down and watched TV.

“I got hit with a toothbrush,” she told jurors.

Lanaeziah, wearing a black sweat shirt and blue jeans, appeared calm as she testified. She smiled a few times at her father, who was sitting near the back of the courtroom.

She remained on the witness stand while prosecutors played a videotaped interview of her on the day her brother died more than four years ago.

Lanaeziah recalled during the interview that Ellijah had bruises on his stomach and neck from the spanking. And she recalled how her brother wasn’t breathing.

“He didn’t listen…,” she told the detective. “Ellijah got a whipping because he didn’t eat his food.”

Lanaeziah fidgeted while the videotape played. She rested her chin on her clasped hands. She turned her head, looked up at the wall behind her and watched herself on the big screen telling the detective how her brother had been beaten. She wiped tears from her eyes with tissue.

The jurors were visibly upset as they looked at autopsy photographs of Ellijah’s battered body. Some wiped their eyes and noses. Some could be heard sniffling.

Hampton hung his head and covered his eyes with his hand while the autopsy photos were shown on a screen at the defense table.

Moments before court resumed after a brief afternoon break, Hampton sat at the defense table weeping.

A few minutes later, after the jurors had returned to the courtroom, Hampton, still sobbing, cried out, “Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he said. “Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I don’t know. I don’t know.”

The judge ordered the jurors back to the jury room. Hampton got his emotions under control after a few minutes and the trial resumed.

The medical examiner testified that the cause of Ellijah’s death was multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the head and body. The autopsy report said Ellijah’s entire body was covered with bruises. The medical examiner showed the jurors the injuries from Ellijah’s head to his feet.

Mecklenburg Assistant District Attorneys Bill Stetzer and Bill Bunting rested their case on Thursday. Defense attorneys Norman Butler and Joe VonKallist will begin presenting their evidence on Monday.

Ellijah was beaten inside a motel room at a complex then called AARCS Residence Suites on South Tryon, where his family had been living.

Hampton confessed during a videotaped interview to beating Ellijah with a toothbrush, a hair brush and a belt. His son, he told the homicide detective, wouldn’t eat his soup.

Hampton demonstrated on a
doll how hard he beat Ellijah with the belt. He recalled how his son
cried and tried to fend off the blows.

Homicide detective Bill Ward asked Hampton what made him beat his son for so long.

“I knew he needed to eat,” Hampton replied. “He was going to eat that.”

“No matter how hard I popped him, he still wouldn’t eat,” Hampton told the detective.

Ward asked Hampton: “At any point, did you think you had killed your son?”

“No,” Hampton replied.

Ward: “Your son didn’t make it. Your son is dead.”

Then Ward told Hampton: “I’m going to place you under arrest for his murder…You’re charged with his death, as you should be.”


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/01/3884283/girl-tells-jurors-she-hid-under.html#storylink=cpy

WHERE WAS THE MOTHER?

Defendant takes the stand in trial of beaten toddler

by GLENN COUNTS / NBC Charlotte
Posted on March 3, 2013 at 10:10 PM
Updated Monday, Mar 4 at 7:53 PM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A reserved Andre
Hampton took the stand in his capitol murder trial. He's accused of
beating his 23 month old son to death in November of 2008.

"I don't know what came over me," Hampton told the jury.

The 27-year-old man said the proudest day of his life was the day his son Elijah was born.

"Like a dream come true, Elijah, I was proud of him because he was a good kid," said the Defendant.

Prosecutors introduced evidence showing that Elijah may have been beaten
hundreds of times with a toothbrush, hairbrush and a belt.

Last Thursday Hampton broke down and cried in front of the jury disrupting the proceedings.

(Andre Hampton at murder trial: 'I can't explain it')

While on the stand he tried to explain himself, saying it finally hit him what he had done.

Prosecutor Bill Bunting on cross examination asked, "It's been almost
five years. You're telling this jury it just hit you on Thursday?"

"Yes sir," Hampton replied.

His twin brother and sister testified they routinely received beatings
while growing up. The Defense is hoping that jurors will buy their
argument that Hampton's upbringing caused him to over react.

Late Monday afternoon both sides rested, closing arguments are expected to begin Tuesday morning.

http://www.wcnc.com/news/Testimony-resumes-for-father-accused-of-killing-toddler-son-194712321.html

NC Man Convicted In Death Of 23-Month-Old Son


March 7, 2013 1:26 AM

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A Mecklenburg County jury has convicted a Charlotte man in the 2008 beating death of his 23-month-old son.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated about five hours
over two days before reaching their verdicts Wednesday in the trial of
Andre Hampton.

The 27-year-old Hampton was convicted of first-degree murder and
felony child abuse. Jurors must now decide if Hampton should be
sentenced to death or life in prison without parole for killing Ellijah
Burger. The trial resumes on Monday.


Booking photo of Andre Hampton. (credit: Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office)

Hampton confessed during a videotaped interview to beating Ellijah with a toothbrush, a hairbrush and a belt, saying his son wouldn’t eat his soup.

Defense attorney Norman Butler told jurors during his closing
argument that Hampton never intended to kill Ellijah and there’s no
proof that he did.

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2013/03/07/nc-man-convicted-in-death-of-23-month-old-son/

North Carolina mom forgives ex-boyfriend for beating their son to death, pleads with sentencing jury: ‘I want him to live’

Lashinna Burger said she forgave Andre Hampton for beating their 2-year-old son
to death in 2008 and asked jurors not to sentence him to death. Hampton,
27, was convicted of murder and faces the death penalty or life in prison.


9 wsoctv.com
Lashinna Burger said she forgave her former boyfriend for beating their son to death in 2008.

A North Carolina mom whose 2-year-old son was beaten to death by his
father said that she forgave the man and doesn't want him put to death.

Lashinna Burger testified Wednesday at the sentencing hearing of Andre
Hampton, who beat their son Elijah Burger to death with a hairbrush and a
belt in 2008.

Outside the courtroom, Burger told reporters that she'd made peace with her son's killer, NBC Charlotte reported.

"I want him to live. He needs to get himself together," Burger said of
Hampton, who was convicted last week of first degree murder.

"He needs to seek God so when he passes away, maybe he'll still reach
others, that's why I want him to live, to get himself together with
God," she said.


wcnc.com
The medical examiner said 23-month-old Elijah Burger suffered trauma all over his body from the savage attack.


She added, "I'm a Christian now, so I feel like if I was to tell them
to put him to death, I'm judging him and I have no right to judge him no
matter what he did."

Her pleas for mercy were stunning considering the brutality of her son's death.

Hampton, 27, beat the little boy regularly. Burger testified that he
whipped their son with a belt and once dislocated her arm, according to
NBC Charlotte.

In November 2008, Hampton bludgeoned the boy to death using a hairbrush, a toothbrush and a belt.

During a confession, he told investigators he attacked the boy because he wouldn't finish his soup.

Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Owens testified during the trial that the
23-month-old's injuries were among the worst he'd seen in thousands of
autopsies performed.

Still, Burger said, after years of hating Hampton, she'd "found peace."

"It killed me," Burger said on the stand, according to the Charlotte Observer.

"Now I'm OK … I forgive him."

Hampton was convicted of murder by torture and felony child abuse last week. He faces death or life in prison.

Closing arguments were set for Thursday.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/mom-forgives-man-beat-son-death-article-1.1288280#ixzz2SvD6tmjx

What a beautiful little baby boy.

Of course she forgives him, she let him do it. No way in hell this was the first time this POS beat her baby and she allowed it to happen.

Prosecutors went for DP but he was sentenced to life.