News (USA)

Man sentenced in death of 2-year-old daughter he tried to turn gay

Man sentenced in death of 2-year-old daughter he tried to turn gay

FLINT, Mich. — A Michigan man has been sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for biting and beating his two-year-old daughter to death in what officials said was an attempt to make her gay.

Donovan Haynes
Donovan Haynes

Donovan Haynes, 23, was sentenced Monday to roughly 18 to 40 years in prison after pleading no contest to second-degree murder of his daughter, Ti’Airra Woodward, in July 2011.

MLive reports that a pre-sentence investigation report claimed that Haynes beat his daughter in an attempt to turn her gay in hopes that she would avoid men like him, who had a history of treating women poorly.

A medical examiner’s report indicated the girl died of internal bleeding from a lacerated liver. Adult human bite marks were also found all over her body, police said.

Prosecutors said Ti’Airra was found unresponsive in the basement of Haynes’ mother’s Flint Township home.

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Before being sentenced on Monday, Haynes unsuccessfully tried to withdraw his plea.

Haynes’ attorney Elbert Hatchett says his client is “deranged” and should undergo counseling in prison.

“This case is a case that defies reason, logic, common sense,” Hatchett said. “(It’s a) tragedy to see the life of an innocent child snuffed out for no reason at all.”

Haynes’ no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing.

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