Note that this wasn't some random "man" who was convicted of murder. It was a custodial father named JOSHUA SAWYER--though this article doesn't tell you that (amnesia--what a beautiful thing). See our previous posts here, if you need to refresh your memory:
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2010/05/custodial-dad-pleads-guilty-to-killing.html
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/11/grand-jury-to-hear-case-of-5-year-old.html
Notice that the mother lost custody in a "vicious divorce," and had been cut off from all contact with her daughter for the year prior to her murder. But you have to go back to a June 2009 article (included in the November 2009 post above) to find this out. It's kind of got, um, erased, from the public consciousness since then. I guess that's a good way for a certain judge to keep his name out of this travesty of justice, huh? Once again, we see how a killer dad used a custody "battle" to punish the mother and maintain his access to the child victim. And how the system enabled this.
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/man-gets-life-for-killing-daughter
Man gets life for killing daughter
Sentenced to life in prison Monday
Updated: Monday, 25 Oct 2010, 2:13 PM EDT
Published : Monday, 25 Oct 2010, 2:13 PM EDT
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - A Chesapeake father was sentenced to life behind bars for killing his 5-year-old daughter. Joshua Sawyer pleaded guilty to the charges back in May.
Police arrested Joshua Sawyer in connection with his daughter Carly's death in June 2009. Officers responded to his Oliver Avenue home to investigate a complaint of child abuse. Police said the little girl was confined in a box, tied up, beaten and denied food.
A medical examiner ruled the cause of Carly's death was blunt force trauma and said starvation and medical neglect also contributed to her death.
The child's stepmother, Brandy Sawyer, has also been charged in connection with the case. She has been charged with first degree murder and felony child neglect. Mrs. Sawyer is due in Chesapeake Circuit Court on December 10.