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player ready...Nicholette Lawrence alternately cried and buried her face in her hands as her sentencing hearing for the murder of her 11-year-old daughter unfolded Thursday in an audio- and video-assisted depiction of cruelty and brutality.
Lawrence, 34, of Waukegan, previously pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and faces a sentence of anywhere from 20 years to life in prison in the death of her daughter, Raashanai Coley.
Raashanai died Sept. 5, 2014, two days after her mother punched her in the stomach, a blow that perforated her stomach and eventually killed her, according to autopsy reports.
Police and paramedics testified Thursday that by the time they were called to the home on Sept. 5, the child was no longer breathing and could not be revived.
They said the 11-year-old was found on the floor of a bedroom amid vomit, emaciated and with her stomach severely distended.
Evidence at the hearing suggested that Raashanai had suffered for much longer than two days.
In a videotaped interview shown Thursday morning with the girl’s younger half-brother, which was recorded after Lawrence’s arrest, the child said his sister had been kept in a locked closet in her parent’s bedroom, rarely fed and often beaten.
On Thursday afternoon, video clips from an iPhone recovered by Waukegan police from the home depicted the girl’s pleas and cries as her mother beat her and screamed at her. The picture was wandering, appearing to show a video game screen as the swearing, screaming woman scolded the child and loud whipping sounds could be heard.
Those video clips were recorded April 3 and 5 of 2013, the year before Coley died, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Fred Day.
Lawrence’s attorney, Public Defender Keith Grant, had objected to the clips being played, arguing that his client had already unconditionally pleaded guilty to murder and to the blow that killed Raashanai, as well as agreeing to an age-difference sentencing enhancement that could land her in prison for life.
Grant also said the clips apparently depicted corporal punishment, which isn’t illegal.
But Lake County Circuit Judge James Booras said the state claimed the clips depicted abuse and could show additional crimes.
Grant responded that if the clips depicted crimes, they were “crimes she hasn’t been charged with.”
“I know a crime when I see one, Mr. Grant,” Booras said as he instructed prosecutors to play the clips in court.
During the interview with the girl’s half-brother, who was 6 years old at the time, the child told an investigator that he and his siblings were “not allowed” to talk about Raashanai because she was “B-A-D,” spelling out the word with emphasis.
When asked how she was bad, he responded that she would steal food. Under questioning, he said Raashanai was not allowed to eat with the family and did not eat regular meals.
The boy told the investigator under gentle questioning that Raashanai was kept locked in a closet in her parents’ upstairs bedroom most of the time, and that the closet had a sink but no toilet, and her mother would get angry and beat her if she used the sink as a toilet.
Raashanai was often beaten by her mother, the child said, sometimes with her hands and sometimes with a belt. He said a stick was also used to beat Raashanai.
When asked, the boy said he and his 7-year-old sister got good Christmas presents the year before, but when asked what Raashanai got for Christmas, he responded “nothing.”
He also said she used to go to school but was then home-schooled “because she was bad.”
The child said when visitors came to the home, Raashanai remained locked in the closet upstairs, and that friends never came to see her.
He said his parents told him and his sister that if they talked to anyone about her, their parents would “get in trouble,” and someone might call the police.
The boy said he, his sister, his mother and father lived in the home, not mentioning Raashanai until he was asked about her. He said he also had an older brother, who stayed with friends.
The boy indicated that Raashanai apparently was labeled bad by Lawrence and her husband after she told police she had been hit.
Authorities said police received a domestic violence call to the home in 2011, reported by a neighbor, and that when officers arrived and saw marks on her face, Raashanai acknowledged she had been struck.
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The boy said that a few days before he was taken to live with a relative, Raashanai got sick and had “a big belly” even though she was “skinny.” He said she cried a lot at that time, and that he was told she had eaten bad sauerkraut.
The videotaped interview was played for more than an hour, and for most of that time, Lawrence sat at the defense table with her face buried in her hands, appearing to cry softly at times.
In the afternoon, Waukegan police Detective Justin Shields, the first to arrive at the scene, said Lawrence told him the child had become sick after eating sauerkraut for her first time. Shields also said he noticed the child was extremely skinny and “malnourished,” but that her stomach was distended and bloated.
He said he also noticed bruises and scars on the girl’s body.
Waukegan firefighter-paramedic Dustin Rynders said that while rescue personnel attempted to revive the girl, it appeared from the look of her face and skin she had been dead at least a half-hour before they arrived, about four minutes after receiving a 911 call.
“She appeared very frail and thin,” Rynders said. “She appeared very emaciated, almost as if she were a cancer patient.”
Autopsy photos of Raashanai shown in court showed her with extremely thin arms and legs, a distended stomach and markings all over her body.
After the cellphone clips were shown, Booras suspended the hearing until Friday morning, when the defense is expected to provide evidence, and closing arguments are expected.
It was not clear Thursday afternoon whether Booras will rule on a sentence Friday or set a separate date for his decision.
Lawrence has been held in Lake County Jail on $5 million bail since she was arrested and charged with the murder.
Twitter @jimnewton5