UNNAMED INFANT - 3 weeks (11/13) - Mount Clemens, MI

Mount Clemens child abuse defendant to seek dismissal of case


Posted: 05/29/14, 2:33 PM EDT | Updated: 1 day ago


Lance Finner at a prior court hearing. MACOMB DAILY FILE PHOTO

The attorney for a Mount Clemens man accused of abusing his infant girl will soon file a motion to dismiss the case that will be subject of a court hearing next month.

Steven Kaplan, attorney for Lance Finner, said following a pretrial hearing Thursday the child was not abused but suffered injuries naturally from a vitamin D deficiency, and even if it was abuse, Finner did not commit it.

“We have two defenses at trial. … The first one is that if somebody abused the child, he didn’t do it,” Kaplan said. “Secondly, it’s not child abuse. It’s a birth defect. In other words, you can have a vitamin deficiency as a child and when you’re born you have susceptibilty to fractures.”

Kaplan questions how prosecutors could point the finger at Finner when three other adults had access to the 3-week-old child.

A hearing on a motion to quash will be held June 24 in front of Judge Jennifer Faunce of Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

Finner, 29, was charged with first-degree child abuse last November after authorities discovered 19 fractures, including a broken leg, on the girl. The child has recovered.

Finner on Thursday attended his first hearing since being freed from the Macomb County Jail on April 24, the same day Faunce dramatically dropped his bond from $2 million cash or surety to $10,000 cash or surety. She made the decision after viewing a doctor’s opinion that the baby suffered from rickets, which made her bones brittle.

Finner was advised not to speak to the media.

Family and relatives, many of whom attended the hearing Thursday, have been staunchly supporting him. They say his 6 foot 6 inch frame and tattooed neck belie his gentle nature. A web site has been set up to campaign for his defense.

Despite being free after more than five months behind bars, Finner’s life “has been kind of hard” because he cannot have contact with the infant and can only have supervised visitation with his two other children, said his brother-in-law, Sylvester Morgan, the brother of Finner’s wife, Marquita Finner. Lance Finner is living with other family members who also reside in Mount Clemens.

He also has not been able to find a job, Morgan said. His arrest forced him to lose his old job.

Although Kaplan is retained, he asked the judge to approve the court’s payment of expenses for an expert on vitamin D deficiency, Dr. Doug Benson, an orthopedic surgeon at Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif., to testify at the trial. Faunce said she wanted to see “specifics” of the request before considering it.


http://www.macombdaily.com/general-news/20140529/mount-clemens-child-abuse-defendant-to-seek-dismissal-of-case

Macomb judge tosses child abuse case, says facts don't add up

By Christina Hall Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
July 14, 2014

For nine months, Lance Finner's family and friends fought for his freedom after he was arrested and charged with abusing his then 3-week-old daughter, who had nearly two dozen fractured bones.

The family, backed by experts, maintained the baby suffered from brittle bone disease or a similar medical malady.

Today, they won their battle when a Macomb County Circuit Judge Jennifer Faunce dismissed the charges against the Mt. Clemens father, bringing him one step closer to seeing his daughter.

"Yes!" "Thank you, Jesus!" resonated in the courtroom after Faunce granted a motion from Finner's attorney to dismiss a first-degree child abuse charge against the tall, balding and tattooed father.

Finner hugged his family and friends inside the courtroom. He had no comment outside the courtroom, but kissed his wife, Marquita, and smiled.

"We think she got it right," Finner's attorney, Matthew Kolodziejski, said of Faunce's ruling. "I think this was a pretty clear-cut case ... This should have never got to this point."

Finner, 29, was arrested in November after a doctor discovered multiple bone fractures in his daughter, who the couple took to the hospital after she fell off her sleeping father onto an unpadded floor Oct. 31.

Finner's family was adamant about his innocence and sought opinions from experts about how the baby suffered fractures from a vitamin D deficiency or rickets -- not abuse at the hands of her father. Finner had been in the county jail until April, when Faunce granted a request to reduce his bond from $2 million to $10,000.

Kolodziejski told the court that Finner came home from work, ate, prepared a bottle and fed it to his daughter. He fell asleep and she fell onto the floor. He immediately woke up his wife and they went to the hospital, where Finner spoke with doctors and gave consistent accounts.

"There is nothing to contradict the version of events. No evidence of specific intent," Kolodziejski said, adding that the case should have never been bound over from district court and there was lack of specific intent to cause physical harm.

Assistant Prosecutor Vicki Walsh said the girl's femur was broken in addition to 21 other fractures and that "this is an intentional act." She said the injuries were a squeezing and violent shaking motion or could have been caused from being slammed on the ground. She said there was evidence for probable cause and that "there was a specific intent to hurt her."

But Faunce said the baby had one small bruise on her abdomen and no other bruises consistent with purposely inflicted multiple broken bones.

"It does seem to defy logic," she said.

Faunce said no one heard or saw anything and there were no prior reports of Finner being a bad father.

"It doesn't add up," Faunce said, adding the district court erred in binding over the case.

Walsh could not be reached for comment after the hearing. While the prosecutor's office can appeal, Kolodziejski said, "we're hopeful this is the end for Lance."

He said Finner does have a case in family court related to the matter with an Aug. 22 court date. Kolodziejski said he intends to file a motion for supervised visits in that case.

Marquita Finner said she was in shock and grateful for Faunce's ruling.

"I'm extremely happy it's over," she said overwhelmed with joy, adding that "he gets to be reunited with his daughter."

She said prayed and hoped for this day and her husband's freedom. Finner and his supporters bowed their heads to pray before Faunce took the bench.

Finner's mother, Diana Finner, said she has believed in her son's innocence.

"He's very kind and gentle and loving, very good around children," she said, adding that people rush to judgment when they see his rough exterior. "He would never harm his child."

http://m.freep.com/localnews/article?a=2014307140166&f=1232

I hope they keep investigating.     

Anyone who could do this to a 3 week old baby is inhuman and needs to be in a cage.