GUILTY CA - Lauren Key, 4, thrown off cliff, Rancho Palos Verdes, 8 Nov 2000

[Paintr]

Still no media updates on this trial.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Lauren finds justice this time.

 

[Inana]

I don't think I'm supposed to do this, but Sprocket at Trials & Tribulations is following the trial, attending daily and blogging in the evening. The link is here.

She does a great job. She also followed the Phil Spector trial. All on her blog.
check it out.

 

[Paintr]

I don't think I'm supposed to do this, but Sprocket at Trials & Tribulations is following the trial, attending daily and blogging in the evening. The link is here.

She does a great job. She also followed the Phil Spector trial. All on her blog.
check it out.

Thank you kindly, Inana! I followed the first trial and was slowly going crazy at the absence of coverage on this one. You are a peach to supply that link!:blowkiss:

 

[CountryGirl]

Does anyone remember this or what the outcome was? I believe the trial of Cameron Brown was in 2005 or 2006 and ended in a hung jury. Was he ever retried? Is he going to be retried? Did he accept a plea? I've looked everywhere and can't find a thing.

http://www.spock.com/Lauren-Key

The outcome of the first trial was they all voted guilty but couldn't agree on the degree of guilt. The vote was:

2-1st degree murder
8-2nd degree murder
2-involuntary manslaughter

Second trial underway now in downtown, not Torrance.

Pat Harris defending (from Geragos & Geragos) paid for by the people, ADA Craig Hum for the people (he was the prosecutor of the first trial as well).

 

[JBean]

I don't think I'm supposed to do this, but Sprocket at Trials & Tribulations is following the trial, attending daily and blogging in the evening. The link is here.

She does a great job. She also followed the Phil Spector trial. All on her blog.
check it out.

you can do this. Sprocket has great trial coverage and a good friend of mine. She goes to trial as often as possible and her work is well respected.
http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/

 

[Inana]

I only say that because sometimes I'm reprimanded for stating too much of an article, or running off subject and twice on a different site I was chastised for not giving a source for everything I wrote. At some point, some things are common knowledge. Anyway, I think Sprocket is great, too. I love the comments on who is wearing what, and that she intimidates the defendents. Ha! She does need to update on how Sprocket is doing with his tyroid treatment and how the washer/dryer home construction is doing. I would love to do the same thing (trial coverage) here on the prairie, but thank goodness we don't have near the level of horrific crime as on the coasts. Thanks all for your kind words.

 

[Paintr]

you can do this. Sprocket has great trial coverage and a good friend of mine. She goes to trial as often as possible and her work is well respected.
http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/

According to Sprocket's blog, linked here, the state and defence have both rested. On Monday will be the site visit by the jury, then closing arguments and the jury instructions. This case may go to the jury as early as Tuesday afternoon.

Hoping for justice for Lauren this time.

ETA Sprocket's blog did a great job of reporting this trial when so little media info could be found. Thank you kindly, Sprocket!

 

[Paintr]

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13170932

An article from Aug 20th...

Expert again claims in court that 4-year-old was thrown from RPV cliff

As he has twice before, a biomechanics expert said in court Thursday that 4-year-old Lauren Sarene Key was thrown over a Rancho Palos Verdes cliff to her death nearly nine years ago.

Wilson Hayes told a Los Angeles Superior Court jury that the laws of physics, coroner reports and statements to police helped form his "inescapable conclusion" about Lauren's fatal plunge on Nov. 8, 2000
....

 

[Paintr]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gPBYc1x2QINgpr-GmU59h1S69PUAD9AO3FG80

Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum urged jurors to find Cameron Brown, 47, guilty of first-degree murder in the November 2000 death of Lauren Sarene Key.

Hum reviewed the evidence for more than two hours, contending it was no accident that Lauren fell 120 feet from Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes.

"It brings us to one horrifying, inescapable conclusion," Hum said. "This man threw his 4-year-old daughter off a cliff to her death."

 

[Paintr]

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13341876?nclick_check=1

Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum on Tuesday said in closing arguments that Cameron Brown killed Lauren Sarene Key in November 2000 because he didn't want to pay $1,000 in monthly child support and sought revenge against the girl's mother.

.....



If convicted, Brown faces life in prison without parole.

 

[Paintr]

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_13345635

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury of 10 men and two women visited Inspiration Point the previous day, and Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said its steep drops, rugged terrain and narrow paths prove Brown, 47, lied about how Lauren Sarene Key died nine years ago.

"Ladies and gentleman, we know in our hearts, every single one of us knows, that there is absolutely no way that things would have happened the way the defendant claims," Hum argued.

"There is no way that Lauren would have led the defendant out there, and that's his story," Hum said. "No way."

 

[Paintr]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brown16-2009sep16,0,4746093.story

Jurors hear contrasting views of man accused of killing daughter

Brown initially harbored suspicions that the baby was not his, the attorney said. But later, after a paternity test, he embraced his daughter and asked the court to allow him to spend extra time with her, Harris said.

"That, ladies and gentleman, is a human being," Harris said, pointing at his client, who listened intently but showed little emotion. "They have to make him into a monster."

The mystery over what happened to Lauren on the cliff-top walk overlooking the Pacific Ocean has lasted nearly a decade.

There were no witnesses to the girl's fall, besides Brown. And sheriff's investigators, struck by his apparent lack of emotion after the incident, soon questioned why a father would take his child to such a secluded, dangerous spot and let her roam.

 

[Paintr]

Cameron John Brown listens to attorney Lara Yeretsian during closing arguments at his murder trial.

 

[Niner]

I hope it's okay to post some pictures of this STEEP Inspiration Point?? Mods?? Sprocket and her husband took a trip down there and took a bunch of pictures - so you can actually SEE how steep these trails are!!!

http://sprocket-trials.blogspot.com/2009/09/cameron-brown-retrial-our-trip-to.html

 

[Paintr]

http://blogs.discovery.com/bizarre/2009/09/lauren-sarene-key.html

Brown's attorney, Pat Harris, criticized the prosecutor by alleging that Hum had spun the evidence to support his theory by omitting information that could be viewed as favorable to Brown's defense, and had dehumanized the defendant in front of the jury. He asked the jurors to think carefully about what Hum was asking them to do, and that is to find that Brown had committed an "incredible act" by throwing his own child off of a cliff. Harris said that it would be "absurd" to kill his daughter and not think to act hysterical or show any emotion afterward if he had truly been trying to cover up such a criminal act.

"It makes no sense," Harris said. "It's doing the bank robbery and not having a getaway car."

Harris also countered the prosecutor's claim that Brown wanted to get rid of his daughter because she was costing him too much money in child support by arguing that Brown was actually attempting to spend more time with the girl, and had been thinking about the future with her.

Harris also argued against the prosecution's contention that Lauren's injuries were consistent with having been thrown over the cliff, and showed photos of the girl's injuries to the jury that included a number of bruises on her body and a large red spot on her back that the medical examiner had said was from the blood pooling after death, or postmortem lividity.

"They just ignore those and they ignore the thing on the back," Harris said.

The jury is currently deliberating Brown's case.

 

[Paintr]

I wonder how long it will take the jury to decide. Will they agree on a verdict this time?

Hoping for justice for Lauren. :rose::rose:

 

[Paintr]

According to Sprocket's Blog (link provided above) the jury won't resume deliberations until next Tuesday.

Hopefully they will deliberate with both wisdom and common sense and return justice for Lauren.

 

[Paintr]

So the jury returns to deliberate this morning. Maybe today is the day they will return a verdict.

Remembering Lauren.

 

[Paintr]

Still waiting for the jury to come to a decision. Hoping for justice for Lauren.

 

[Paintr]

I didn't expect the jury to need this long to come to decision. I am getting nervous now. Hope it is not a repeat of the last trial. sigh. Justice for Lauren is a long time coming.