ARIANNA LONG - 23 months - St. Augustine FL

Following testimony from a police officer who quoted Omar Long say, "I
killed my baby," when learning his 23-month-old daughter was pronounced
dead, the state rested its case in the manslaughter trial.Long
rocked his head and cried as the medical examiner showed autopsy photos
and told the court that 23-month-old Arianna had a temperature of at
least 109 when she arrived at Flagler Hospital. The cause of death was
hyperthermia -- extreme heat exposure -- and she had second-degree
burns on her body.Police said Long was asleep in his home when
his daughter was found unresponsive in a car parked in the summer sun.
Officers said he reeked of alcohol when they responded to his house.Long was arrested in June on the manslaughter charge -- two weeks after the girl died.St.
Johns County Deputy Alana McGuire testified Wednesday that she was at
the hospital when Arianna's mother learned of her death and confronted
Long.

Omar Long and Arianna

"'Why?
I gave her to you. What happened. Why?'" McGuire said Nikki Anderson
asked Long that day. "He just kept saying, 'I killed my baby. I'm
sorry.'"Prosecutors also called several of Long's friends, who
testified that the defendant was out partying until 5 a.m. that
morning, but despite drinking throughout the night, did not show signs
of impairment.Long told police he did not know his daughter was
strapped in a car seat in the back of the car when he took his wife to
work that morning, then went inside to take a nap.Defense
attorneys said in opening statements that Long's sister-in-law called
Arianna's mother and apologized for not taking any action when she
heard the crying in the car.On the witness stand Tuesday, the
sister-in-law, Seritia Montgomery, denied that, saying, "I didn't hear
her crying in the car that morning."Long
appeared emotional as the 911 call made by Long's brother after his
wife found the girl purple and unresponsive in the car was played in
court Tuesday afternoon.

Caller: My little, my little girl, my little niece was in the car and she's not breathing.
911: How long was the kid in the car, do you know?
Caller: I cannot freaking believe this, dude.
911: When was the last time you had seen (Long)?
Caller: Dude, he just woke up. I just woke up. My brother must have accidentally left her. I don't know. I don't know what's going on.

Anderson
testified Tuesday that Long swerved on his way to taking her to work
and fell asleep at a red light. But she said she does not believe he
was under the influence that morning.Many of Long's friends and
family -- including another of his children -- have supported him
during the six months he has been held on $250,000 bond. They said it
was a tragic accident that could happen to anyone.

Wailing echoed down a corridor outside the St. Johns County
courtroom Wednesday night as a jury found that Omar Donte Long was
responsible for the heat-exhaustion death of his 23-month-old daughter this summer.Long, 30, was found guilty of manslaughter, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.He had been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.Circuit Judge Wendy W. Berger said he would be sentenced in January.One spectator rushed from the courtroom just after the jury of four men and two women
was polled to confirm the verdict. She burst into tears just on the
other side of the courtroom’s double doors. She soon was joined by
others.Long stared at the table and rubbed his forehead as each of the jurors said they had voted guilty.The jury was out about four hours before reaching a verdict.Long,
30, had been on probation for a 2003 charge of aggravated battery on a
law enforcement officer. A condition of that probation was that he not
drink. His attorney conceded during his trial that he probably had one
alcoholic drink the night of June 13 — the night before his daughter
died.Long drove his girlfriend, Lashondia Anderson, to her job
at Flagler Hospital shortly before 6 a.m. on June 14, according to the
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Anderson testified she put their
child, Arianna, in the back seat of Long’s 2006 Dodge Charger.He
returned home, left the engine running and the doors locked and went to
sleep. Long’s sister-in-law, Sherita Montgomery, realized the child was
still in the car around noon. She died of heat exhaustion at the
hospital.Whether Long knew, or should have known, that Anderson
had put their daughter in the backseat was the basis of the criminal
charge.“This little girl trusted her father; she deserved
better,” Assistant State Attorney Bryan Feigenbaum said in his closing
argument Wednesday afternoon.Long’s attorney, Jill Barger, said
in her closing that “the death of Arianna Long was an accident … an
accumulation of unassociated events.”

30 year-old Omar Donte Long who resided at 312 Harvard Road, was
arrested late in the afternoon on June 26, 2009 and booked into the
County Jail following a two week investigation in connection with the
death of his nearly two-year-old child on June 14th.
A jury found Long guilty in November after five hours of
deliberation. He was sentenced this afternoon for manslaughter and
violation of probation. At the time of his daughter’s death, he was
already on probation for aggravated battery on a law enforcement
officer.
The investigation began shortly after 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, June
14th when deputies along with Fire Rescue personnel responded to a
report of an unresponsive child at the Long residence on Harvard Road.
The victim, Arianna Long, was transported to Flagler Hospital.
His attorney conceded during his trial that he probably had one
alcoholic drink the night of June 13 — the night before his daughter
died.Long drove his girlfriend, Lashondia Anderson, to her job
at Flagler Hospital shortly before 6 a.m. on June 14, according to the
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Anderson testified she put their
child, Arianna, in the back seat of Long’s 2006 Dodge Charger.He
returned home, left the engine running and the doors locked and went to
sleep.
she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The investigation revealed that the victim was originally located at
12:00 p.m. inside a 2006 Dodge Charger that was registered to Long, the
victim’s father.
Detectives learned that the suspect had taken the child’s mother to
work at Flagler Hospital at 6:00 a.m. with the victim in a booster seat
in the rear of the vehicle.
The suspect returned to the residence, however, he stated that he didn’t know the child was in the car.
Another family member woke up around 12:00 p.m. — she did not hear the toddler and became concerned.
The suspect was sleeping on the couch and the family member began to
search for the toddler throughout the house. She then went outside and
ran to the father’s vehicle which was parked in the driveway.
The doors were locked but she spotted the child in the back seat. She says that the child appeared unresponsive.
The father was awakened. He obtained a spare key and unlocked the doors and found the toddler.
Dr. Frederick Hobin of the District Medical Examiner’s Office
performed an autopsy. Preliminary results revealed that the cause of
death was exposure due to heat or hyperthermia.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Wendy Berger said that she struggled with this case.
When the judge delivered the sentence of 12 years in prison, Anderson sobbed and left the courtroom.
Based on multiple violations of probation, the 12 year prison term was the minimum sentence Long qualified for.
Everyone who spoke in the courtroom Thursday, including the
prosecutor, said they did not believe Long intended to leave Arianna in
the car.
Anderson’s parents told news reporters that they will appeal.