Thomas Huge was sentenced to 23 years to life for strangling his 15-month-old daughter to death. Photo via Prosecutors Office
Common Pleas Court Judge Dennis Helmick sentenced Thomas Huge to 23 years to life for the murder of his 15-month-old daughter, Kayli Bates, in 2010.
Huge was spared the death penalty for the choking death of his daughter, as the jury said they did not have enough character evidence to convict him of crimes that would lead to capital punishment.
During the two-week trial, the judge refused to allow testimony from the girl’s mother, Julie Bates, who told authorities that she and Huge had fought often, and several times he had ended their arguing by choking her unconcious. The judge did not allow the testimony because Huge was not charged with or on trial for choking Julie Bates.
6-foot-2, 250-pound Huge strangled little Kayli to death on September 7, 2010 in the Springfield, Ohio, home that she shared with his two daughters.
When Huge entered the courtroom for sentencing, he called Kayli’s second cousin, Tracy Armstrong, a bitch.
According to reports, Armstrong responded with “Back at ya.”
Armstrong, a cousin of Kayli’s mother, was the primary caregiver of Kayli, as the girl’s mother was in jail on drug charges and Huge refused to acknowledge paternity of the girl.
Armstrong called Huge out for his refusal to acknowledge Kayli as his daughter, taking her into his home only after she was proven to be his biological child through paternity tests, and because he was told he couldn’t get custody of his older daughter, Karli Bates, unless he also took Kayli.
Armstrong spoke for the deceased little girl and told the court of the horrors Kayli lived through during the three months she lived with her father. Kayli was rarely was fed and often abused, Armstrong said.
Huge also was convicted of child abuse.
Aside from the name-calling incident, Huge showed no emotion during the sentencing.
“I think to this day, sadly, he just doesn’t care about his child,” Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor David Prem said. “Mr. Huge wanted nothing to do with her.”
Sources: Cincinnati.com, Ohio News Network
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