Mesquite man sentenced to life for fatally beating 4-month-old daughter

11:41 PM CDT on Friday, August 20, 2010
By JENNIFER EMILY / The Dallas Morning News

A Mesquite man who beat his 4-month-old daughter to death because she cried too much was sentenced to life in prison Friday.

State District Judge Gracie Lewis pronounced the automatic sentence for Franzwa Miller moments after a jury found him guilty of capital murder in Lea Miller's death. He is not eligible for parole.

Miller showed no reaction, but several of his relatives and friends began to cry in the courtroom. As bailiffs escorted Miller to a court jail cell, one woman shouted: "It's OK. It's OK. We're there for you."

Alesha Dean, the child's mother, who faces up to life in prison for her role in the case, was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read. No trial date has been set for Dean, who is charged with injury to child for not taking steps to prevent the abuse.

Miller's family and friends declined to comment, although one woman did shout expletives in the hallway. Jurors, who left without commenting, were escorted from the courthouse by bailiffs.

Dean testified against Miller earlier this week, saying that he forcefully slapped Lea as she lay on the bathroom floor of their Mesquite apartment in June 2009. Dean and a friend of Miller's, Jason Lester, also testified that Miller frequently beat the baby with a spatula, rarely fed her and made Lea spend most days in a portable crib in a closet because she cried too much.

Dallas County prosecutors Reynie Tinajero and Elaine Evans, said that the choice was clear for jurors.

"I think the evidence was overwhelming," Tinajero said. "When you think of the way this infant lived her life, in the closet, afraid of him – her daddy."

Miller's defense attorneys, Scottie Allen and Patty Morris, said prosecutors filed the wrong charge against Miller. Allen said jurors acted emotionally because a baby was killed.

"Obviously, we're very disappointed," Allen said. "He may not have been a very good parent. But they didn't charge him with that."

Allen reiterated a contention that he made during the trial: that it was Dean, and not Miller, who killed Lea.

After Miller hit Lea, she lay unconscious on the floor for five minutes to an hour – depending on which version of events is used – before Dean and Miller called 911.

Doctors who treated the girl said she had old rib fractures, a broken arm, a skull fracture, bleeding in the back of her eyes and brain injuries.

Dean, who said Miller abused her, testified that Miller once broke a spatula while hitting Lea with it. Dean testified that she didn't prevent the abuse to the child because she was afraid Miller would harm her or her family.

Dean has another child, a girl who was 18 months old at the time Lea died. That child was not injured and now lives out of state with her biological father.

From: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-babytrial_20met.ART.State.Edition1.355857e.html