LAFAYETTE, La. Lafayette Parish District Attorney Mike Harson says he will seek the death penalty for a 29-year-old man charged with the first-degree murder of his girlfriend's eight-month-old baby.Brian Crimiel has been booked in the case.Although Harson said he has not received the details of the case, he made it clear that the nature of the crime justifies the use of capital punishment.Police say the infant sustained trauma to the head area, which may have caused her death.Officials have not disclosed what evidence led to Crimiel being arrested.
INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE MOTHER OF INFANT CHILDInfant's mom questions arrest
Mother says fiancé not guilty in child's death
Kyle Jackson
[email protected] mother of Harmony Ritchey, an 8-month-old child who died Dec. 31 as a result of head trauma, says the man accused of murdering her daughter is innocent and shouldn't be in jail.
Police charged Brian Crimiel with first-degree murder shortly after the child's death. Crimiel is the 29-year-old fiancé of the infant's mother, 19-year-old April Ritchey.ADVERTISEMENT
"I'm not going to let Brian take the blame for Harmony's death when he didn't do it," April Ritchey said.On March 14, April Ritchey signed an affidavit at the District Attorney's Office requesting a dismissal of charges.
"He was just as protective, if not more, of Harmony as I was," April Ritchey stated in the affidavit. "Brian was around Harmony very little by himself. We were always together. I was always there with them."Others in the Ritchey family feel differently."We'd just like to get to the truth and get it over with," said William Ritchey, Harmony's grandfather. "I guess it'll take a trial to get to that. I support the rights of my granddaughter and I want to find out how she died."The same day April Ritchey filed her affidavit, Crimiel went before a grand jury for indictment. Before the hearing, the District Attorney's Office filed charges against him for manslaughter.District Attorney Mike Harson said that because of a time limit, his office rushed to file a manslaughter charge before the grand jury convened. Harson added that he hoped the grand jury would indict for a higher crime.According to Crimiel's lawyer, the grand jury ended without making a decision due to a lack of information or evidence, and it was asked to reconvene April 18.That day also would have been Harmony Ritchey's first birthday.An initial report released by the District Attorney's Office said the infant had several broken ribs that could have occurred prior to the day of her death, as well as burn scars on the right side of her body and a fractured skull.In an interview with The Daily Advertiser, April Ritchey said the "burn scars" on her daughter were not burns, but were blisters from a rash.April Ritchey said that "the only thing that can account for the prior rib fractures is that there must've been things going on long before I met Brian."Crimiel was arrested on first-degree murder charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted.If Crimiel is convicted of manslaughter, which is his present charge, he faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison /
