Dad convicted of 1st-degree murder, sexual assault of 23-month-old daughter (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

Dad WILLIAM PAGE has been convicted of kidnapping, sexual assault, and 1st-degree murder in this gut-wrenching case involving his 23-month-old daughter. Hopefully, this monster will never have the chance to even look at a child again.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10082/1044877-56.stm

Jury convicts father in Braddock tot's death
Little Nyia Page died horribly, and a jury found her father was her murderer
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Their reactions to the first-degree murder verdict mirrored those described by the prosecutor when their 23-month-old daughter disappeared.

Nyia Page's mother gasped, cried and shook uncontrollably as the jury foreman pronounced "guilty."

Nyia Page's father -- the man who stood convicted of the girl's horrific murder -- expressed no emotion at all. He simply stood at the defense table.

A short time later, as Allegheny County Judge David R. Cashman told Mr. Page that the phase to determine if he will be sentenced to die will begin today, the defendant stood casually, with his hands in his pockets.

The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for less than five hours between Friday afternoon and Monday morning.

Though they were able to reach a unanimous verdict in the death, kidnapping and sexual assault of Nyia, the jurors could not agree on a verdict in a separate indecent assault charge involving a 6-year-old boy in the house the night before Nyia disappeared, on Feb. 3, 2007.

Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli said his office would not try Mr. Page on those charges again.

"Under no circumstances would we put a 9-year-old child through a second trial," he said.

The boy told investigators who were trying to find Nyia that Mr. Page touched his genitals from the outside of his pajama bottoms. The prosecution did not have any forensic evidence to link Mr. Page to the crime.

They did, however, find the man's DNA on a diaper Nyia was wearing at the time she disappeared.

The girl's partially clothed body was found in an overgrown playground in Rankin about one-third of a mile from the Page home in Braddock on Feb. 4, 2007. She died of exposure and hypothermia, after being left out in single-digit temperatures for more than 24 hours.

The prosecution said that Mr. Page sexually assaulted Nyia and then left her in the woods to die so that she wouldn't be able to tell anyone what he'd done.

Throughout the trial, Mr. Tranquilli and several prosecution witnesses commented on Mr. Page's demeanor the morning it was discovered that Nyia was missing.

They said that he remained calm, even as Nyia's mother, Darlene Robinson, was frantic. She became so hysterical in the early going that she had to be treated by paramedics. Ms. Robinson was eight months pregnant at the time, and she and Mr. Page were engaged.

After the verdict was read, Ms. Robinson and her family walked just 20 steps out of Judge Cashman's courtroom before she stopped and collapsed on a bench in the hallway.

As Mr. Tranquilli joined the group, Ms. Robinson kept repeating with relief, "Thank you so much. Thank you so much."

She will take the stand today to talk about how Nyia's death has impacted her family.

After the prosecution presents its evidence in support of the death penalty, Mr. Page will begin his defense. His attorneys are expected to call a psychologist to offer mitigation.

The case could go to the jury by Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10082/1044877-56.stm#ixzz0j1bB1Vot