East Texas man could get death sentence for child death

KOUNTZE, Texas (AP) – Jurors this week in Hardin County in East Texas begin hearing testimony on whether they should send a 40-year-old man to death row or life in prison after they convicted him of the torture death of his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter.

Lawyers for Jason Wade Delacerda say prosecutors used emotional testimony and evidence to compensate for insufficient evidence to link the Kountze man to head injuries that killed Breonna Nichole Loftin in August 2011.

The Beaumont Enterprise reports prosecutors told jurors who convicted Delacerda Friday that the child’s autopsy showed three parts of her brain bleeding, multiple fractures, burns, bruises, blisters, piercings and marks from standing on bottle caps.

Defense lawyers made no opening statement during the trial’s guilt-innocence phase, called no witnesses and cross-examined none of the prosecution witnesses.

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