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Though Flanigan has whittled down her case significantly, and the trial probably will end by next Tuesday or Wednesday, she still has a long way to go.
Especially to get a conviction on the most serious count against Conaway, 35, now of Florida: Murder of a child by parent by failure to provide necessities.
A conviction on that charge would carry a term of life in prison, with jurors to determine mercy (parole eligibility in 15 years) or no mercy (no parole eligibility). It’s expected Flanigan would ask for a second trial on sentencing, likely immediately after the return of the verdict.
However, the language of the statute will make it a case of threading the needle to get a guilty verdict on that charge for Flanigan and case agents Loudin, FBI Special Agent Fred Aldridge, and Lewis County Sheriff’s Cpl. E.E. Carpenter (who inherited the case from Mike Posey, a sheriff’s sergeant who since has left the department).
The statute, §61-8D-2, reads: “If any parent, guardian or custodian shall maliciously and intentionally cause the death of a child under his or her care, custody or control by his or her failure or refusal to supply such child with necessary food, clothing, shelter or medical care, then such parent, guardian or custodian shall be guilty of murder in the first degree.”
Just about any veteran prosecutor will say that proving malicious intent is one of the toughest bars to reach in a criminal case, and in this case, the state has the added burden of proving it was malicious intent to cause Aliayah’s death.
Yet if the jury comes back with a guilty verdict on this charge, it seems as though Dyer would have a long way to go to try to persuade jurors that his client, a 35-year-old who lived in Bendale then but Florida now, is deserving of parole eligibility.
And the state also has other counts pending against Lunsford Conaway that don’t have nearly as high of a bar to prove: Death of a child by parent by child abuse, which carries up to 40 years in prison; child abuse resulting in injury, which carries 1-5 years; and concealment of a dead body, which also carries 1-5 years.
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