Ryan and Brittany McConniel made 5-year old Lauren's life living hell until she died

[HeatherHabilatory]

Jesus christ. I think I need therapy after this.

What the hell good could come of naming your child Robert E. Lee? Fucking redneck hillbilly inbred fucking trash.

And they're all fucking related somehow. And how many adults in that house and no one did anything!? Fuck.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Angela Lee

Nearly two years after the death of 5-year-old Lauren McConniel, two more arrests were made Monday in connection with the abuse and neglect of the Muncie girl.

Angela Rice Lee, 45, is charged with aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class A felony carrying a standard 30-month prison term, and failure to immediately report child abuse or neglect, a misdemeanor.

Lee -- the mother of Brittany Lee McConniel, Lauren's stepmother -- was being held without bond in the Delaware County jail.

Also arrested was Angela Lee's other daughter, Samra Lee, 21.

The younger Lee faces the same charges as her mother, although the aiding and inducing charge is a Class D felony with a standard 18-month sentence.

Samra Lee was apparently in police custody on Monday night, but she had not been booked into the Delaware County jail as of 8 p.m.

Court documents related to the charges had been sealed, and details of the allegations against the women were not immediately available.

With Monday's arrests, all five adults who lived in the South Ebright House where Lauren McConniel spent her final months have now been charged in connection with her death.
[...]

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...STED/201240347

Robert Lee stands trial in April. Ryan McConniel is scheduled to be sentenced May 14.

[LeaveMeBe]

I am glad they finally rounded up and charged everyone involved in the neglect, abuse and death of this precious little girl and I hope they pay fully through our justice system (which in my eyes will never be to the extent it should be). With that being said, my wish for each of them is that karma stalk them hand-in-hand with the Grim Reaper and make their days torturous and miserable until death collects them.

[princessgrandma]

That poor baby was failed by EVERYONE in her life so it's only right that EVERYONE be held responsible for her death. With these new arrests, it seems we are well on the way to making that happen.

[Tundratot]

God! I am soooo glad they finally decided to do this. They are a sick, sick bunch of junk yard dogs.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A Muncie mother and daughter had a reunion of sorts on Monday, but it was under the worst of circumstances.
[...]

Angela and Samra Lee sat next to one another in the jury box of Delaware Circuit Court 5 on Monday afternoon, when Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. conducted initial hearings in their cases.

Both women were clad in blue jail uniforms, with their hands cuffed and chained to a waist belt, and their ankles shackled. The elder Lee stumbled and nearly fell to the courtroom floor while making her way from the witness stand back to the jury box.

Angela Lee -- charged with aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Class A felony carrying a standard 30-year prison term, and failure to report child abuse or neglect, a misdemeanor -- received a May 15 trial date and saw her bond set at $31,000.

Samra Lee -- charged with aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony with a standard 18-month sentence, and the same failure-to-report count -- received a May 24 trial date. Her bond had already been set at $6,000.

Judge Cannon agreed to appoint public defenders to represent both women.

Angela Lee told the judge she hadn't held a job since 1994.

Asked if she had a source of income, she responded, "Not now. ... My husband's Social Security check stopped."

Robert E. Lee, 45, was arrested last June after being charged with five crimes stemming from Lauren's abuse and neglect. He remains in jail under a $50,000 bond, awaiting a trial that is now set for April 30.

Samra Lee told the judge she had never held a job and didn't know her Social Security number.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...STED/201310322

[Ozzy]

Thanks Dakota. I hope they all fry and burn in hell. This case is so close to my heart, so heart breaking. I have to go directly to the last comment, for fear of losing it. RIP Lauren, praying justice will be yours.

[Tundratot]

MUNCIE . . .
[Robert E.] Lee, 45, of Muncie, pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class A felony carrying a standard 30-year prison term.

Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. took under advisement a plea bargain that places a 40-year cap on the prison term Lee could receive, and tentatively set sentencing for June 4.

. . .

In court on Monday, Robert Lee admitted he had made suggestions to Brittany McConniel about what his public defender, Doug Mawhorr, called "different forms of punishment" she could inflict on Lauren.

Those punishments, Lee acknowledged, included forcing the little girl to do jumping jacks until she collapsed from exhaustion; to hold heavy produce cans, with her arms extended, for long periods of times; and beatings, some inflicted with wooden slats on the palms of her hands and the soles of her feet, and others inflicted with wet towels on her legs.

Lee also said he had done nothing to seek help for Lauren when she was "wasting away," not being fed regularly and not eating.

"She looked like skins and bones before she went to the hospital, didn't she?" Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold asked Lee.

"Yes, sir," the defendant responded.

And Lee admitted he didn't contact police or welfare officials about the abusive acts he had suggested his stepdaughter inflict on her own stepdaughter.

While being questioned by Arnold, Lee said his wife -- also charged with a Class A felony in Lauren's death -- was aware of the child being abused and the decline of her health, and did nothing on Lauren's behalf.

. . .

Robert Lee maintained his daughter, Samra -- who faces less severe charges -- was not present when most of the abuse took place.

The plea agreement calls for four lesser charges pending against Robert Lee to be dismissed. He would waive all rights to appeal his conviction and whatever sentence would be imposed by Cannon.

After the hearing, Prosecutor Arnold maintained the state had forfeited little in the plea agreement, noting that Lee likely would have faced no more than 50 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

. . .

During his now-ex-wife's trial last year, Ryan McConniel testified he didn't do more to protect his daughter in part because he was physically intimidated by Robert Lee, who is his first cousin.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...STED/204100331

Inbred monsters!

[HeatherHabilatory]

Ugh! It gets more twisted with every update!

[Jerri Blank]

40-year sentence for malnutrition death

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) -- A Muncie man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the malnutrition death of his 5-year-old step-granddaughter.

A Delaware County judge told 45-year-old Robert Lee that he must have been a monster "manifested in the flesh" to 5-year-old Lauren McConniel before she died in 2010 after living in Lee's home for seven months.

The Star Press reports (http://tspne.ws/KJvhmG ) Lee was sentenced Monday on child neglect charges.

Lauren died after weighing 28 pounds when she was hospitalized with lethal salt levels.

Lee admitted in court he had discussed with his stepdaughter, Brittany McConniel, punishments for the girl that included exercising to collapse and beatings.

McConniel is serving a 50-year sentence. Ryan McConniel is awaiting sentencing on neglect charges in his daughter's death.

http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/crime/4...utrition-death

[Tundratot]

Public defender Doug Mawhorr asked the judge to impose a 20-year sentence, with time years suspended, urging Cannon to consider Lee’s “very poor health.”

Mawhorr also read aloud a letter he said his client had written that was addressed to Lauren McConniel, apologizing for failing to protect her.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...yssey=nav|head

I take from that the happy news could be Lee might not live through his sentence.

Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman scoffed at some of Lee’s purported ailments, which range from diabetes and gout to obesity and nicotine dependence.

“The irony stinks up the courtroom,” said Hoffman, suggesting Lee had chosen to “smoke and feed his face” while a child in his home was starving. . . .

Before Cannon imposed that sentence, Mawhorr read aloud a letter he said his client had written, addressed to Lauren McConniel.

“I’m so sorry that I didn’t protect you and I helped Ryan and Brittany hurt you,” the letter read. “I feel so guilty for what happened ... I’ll forever be in pain.”

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...yssey=nav|head

Yeah, sure, you bastard.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Witness to Lauren's abuse pleads guilty

Samra Lee on Tuesday recalled looking on as her sister’s 5-year-old stepdaughter, Lauren McConniel, was forced to hold aloft large cans of tomato juice as a form of punishment.

Lee, now 21, said she did nothing to help Lauren in that instance, or as the child became dangerously emaciated — showing numerous signs of physical and emotional deterioration — before she died in an Indianapolis hospital on March 9, 2010.

Lee on Tuesday pleaded guilty to aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony carrying a standard 18-month prison term. Under the terms of a plea agreement — taken under advisement by Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. — the Muncie woman could receive up to two years of incarceration.

The judge tentatively set sentencing for Oct. 15.
[...]

At Tuesday’s hearing, public defender Sam Beasley detailed various aspects of Lauren McConniel’s deterioration, and then asked his client, “Did you ever contact the Department of Child Services, or the police, or anyone?”

“No,” Samra Lee responded.

The defendant said Lauren appeared to be healthy when she came to live with the McConniels and Lees in August 2009.

Asked by Beasley what she believed would happen if her case went to trial, Lee responded, “I would lose.”

The defendant did not appear eager to respond to questions from Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman about a statement she gave to police that reportedly recounted incidents that saw Robert Lee beating Lauren with a wooden bed slat.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...-pleads-guilty

[Jerri Blank]

Woman loses appeal in child death case

MUNCIE, Ind. (WISH) - A woman who appealed her conviction and sentence for the neglect of a dependent which resulted in the death of a 5-year-old has lost her appeal.

Brittany McConniel, 26, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in the death of her step-daughter, Lauren McConniel.

An autopsy showed the child died of malnourishment and salt poisoning.

McConniel had raised three issues - whether the court abused its discretion in denying McConniel’s motion for funds for expert witness, whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain McConniel’s conviction, and whether McConniel’s sentence is inappropriate in light of the nation of the offense and her character.

The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s conviction and sentence.

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/crime...ild-death-case

[Tundratot]

I see that @Jerri Blank beat me to it, so I'll just post a couple of quotes that make my little bleeding heart feel warmer.

“McConniel’s extremely abusive behavior toward and neglect of Lauren over a period of months is beyond shocking,” Brown wrote in the 3-0 ruling. . . .

In Tuesday’s ruling, the appeals court also rejected McConniel’s contention that Judge Cannon should have provided her with public funds to hire an “expert witness” for her defense.

The court also ruled a “reasonable trier of fact” could have determined from the evidence that “McConniel knowingly deprived Lauren of necessary support and that the deprivation resulted in Lauren’s death. . . .

Brittany McConniel is incarcerated at the Rockville Correctional Facility in western Indiana. According to a state Department of Correction website, with credit for good behavior she would be eligible for release in September 2035.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...nclick_check=1

So now you know where to write and when to look for a defunct salt mine.

[AngelFire]

Brittany McConniel, 26, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in the death of her step-daughter, Lauren McConniel.

Bring on the lifetime supply of Morton's salt for this bitch.

[Tundratot]

MUNCIE – The fifth and final defendant charged in the 2010 death of 5-year-old Lauren McConniel faces up to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty on Tuesday.

Angela Lee, 46, was charged with aiding, inducing or causing neglect of a dependent, a Class A felony that normally carries a maximum 50-year sentence.

Delaware Circuit Court 5 Judge Thomas Cannon Jr. took the plea agreement that placed the 30-year limit of Lee’s prison term under advisement, and tentatively set sentencing March 4. . . .

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...nclick_check=1

The Muncie woman acknowledged Lauren was subjected to physical abuse — including being forced to exercise to the point of exhaustion, and being beaten, with wooden slats, on the soles of her feet and palms of her hands — and was clearly suffering from malnutrition in the final weeks of her life.

“You were aware of this?” Bryan asked.

“Yes,” said Lee, also agreeing she had failed to alert police or welfare authorities of the child’s plight.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...nclick_check=1

[Tundratot]

MUNCIE — Five days shy of the third anniversary of their daughter’s death, Lauren McConniel’s parents had a showdown Monday afternoon in Delaware Circuit Court 5.

Ryan McConniel, now 36, spent most of a 90-minute hearing weeping — before and after he received a 20-year prison term for his role in the abuse, neglect and death of his daughter, who was 5 when she died on March 9, 2010.

His ex-wife, Amber Huggins, recalled that she once loved McConniel, but said in the wake of their daughter’s death, she felt nothing but “pure disdain, disgust and hatred” for her former spouse, who sat sobbing about 10 feet from her, his face for several minutes planted on top of his left arm.

“Daddies are supposed to be a little girl’s king, her protector,” Huggins said. “Ryan, however, was Lauren’s nightmare.” . . .

Ryan McConniel struck a deal with prosecutors in 2011, pleading guilty to a neglect charge that carried a maximum 20-year sentence, and giving authorities the statements needed to convict his wife, her mother and stepfather and their other daughter in Lauren’s death.

Calling her ex-husband “cowardly pathetic,” Amber Huggins said her surviving children “are the only reason Ryan and his family of monsters are alive.”

“I will love her until my last breath,” Huggins tearfully said of Lauren. She lost custody of her daughter in an Arkansas court hearing in which she didn’t have legal representation. During the girl’s months in Muncie, Huggins made futile attempts to find her daughter for visits, not seeing her again until she lay dying in the hospital.

Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold called McConniel “the most gutless, empty father and human being that I’ve ever seen.”

He also said he would “go to my grave wondering if I did the right thing” in negotiating a plea bargain with McConniel in order to secure the other convictions.

Arnold’s chief trial deputy, Eric Hoffman, called McConniel a “spineless wimp,” noting his claims he failed to protect Lauren from his wife and her family because he was physically intimidated by them.

“It’s truly pathetic that all of us in the courtroom have more compassion for a child that we never met than her own father,” Hoffman said.

Public defender John Brooke said he couldn’t argue his client wasn’t “the person most responsible” for Lauren’s fate. He asked the judge to impose a “fair and appropriate sentence,” saying McConniel’s fear of his co-defendants was “not an excuse” but a “fact of life.”

For his part, a sobbing McConniel offered his apologies to “my children, and the Lord, and to Amber and her family.”

“I guess I am just a worthless father like they said,” he told the judge. “But I did try to protect her and help her. But I didn’t do enough.”

At the earlier sentencing hearing for Angela Lee, Huggins said her daughter’s months with the McConniels and Lees were spent “in terror, in fear, in pain, in horror, in hunger.”

Hoffman noted it was Lee’s idea for Ryan McConniel to take custody of Lauren in pursuit of child support to help finance their household.

“God forbid she get a job!” Hoffman said. “She hasn’t worked since 1996.”

He also noted Lee had indicated she hadn’t interceded on Lauren’s behalf because she was “too busy on the computer talking to men on the Internet.”

Arnold called Lee and her co-defendants “truly worthless.” . . .

Defense attorney Kelly Bryan asked the judge to consider his client’s troubled childhood, alleged abuse inflicted by her husband and a psychologist’s diagnosis of post-traumatic stress syndrome. . . .

The 30-year sentence she received was also the maximum allowed under the terms of a plea agreement. . . .

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/...nclick_check=1

Now they've all gone down. Another one bites the dust. Yeah.

[CbabyRKO]

Just pure evil. And lazy at that. Didn't even want the girl just the money they could get from her mama. Daddy dearest should just fucking kill himself coz he aint no kinda man.

[TKaz]

I'm surprised i never commented on this thread, but maybe I was too deeply affected by it to write anything - that happens on here sometimes.
I have a few questions.

WHY did the state give Ryan custody? He & his wife saw Lauren only for financial gain...but what did they say/do to get custody? I understand that they incriminated Amber but this was AFTER Lauren had been seen my doctors, yes?

IF Ryan & Brittany told them that Amber was the one who had sexually abused Lauren, where was that follow up?

Third, I had suspected sexual abuse when I read that Lauren was harming herself in biting, etc. Is it established that she WAS indeed harming herself and that there WAS sexual abuse.....or has that simply been insinuated because of Robert Lee & the fact that Brittany had claimed he had abused her?

[UnlimitedPower]

I had read on one site that Ryan got custody from Amber because he did the divorce in Arkansas where it's more about who has the money. If it was in Indianapolis, we might not be talking about this at all as apparently the mother is favoured there. Also, Amber had represented herself, he had a lawyer.

Amber got custody of Lauren's older sister who was also trapped in that horrid place only after Lauren died and the state tried to put her in foster care. She had provided some of the evidence against Ryan and Brittany.

State laws can really screw you over when it comes to custody and if you know where to divorce, it seems that you can win easily.