Harve Johnson, a York County man who brutally beat a 2-year-old girl with a video game controller, has been sentenced to death.
Johnson was convicted of first degree murder last Friday after a week long trial revealed that Darisabel Baez suffered nearly and hour of beating.
During trial, prosecutors showed pictures of the toddler lying in a hospital bed with more than 220 cuts and bruises on every part of her tiny body. The graphic pictures also showed her fingernails that were blacked and in some cases missing.
Monday after less than two hours of deliberating, the same 12 jurors who agreed that Johnson intentionally killed the child, decided that Harve Johnson deserved to die for "torturing" the toddler.
Johnson stood like a statue while the jury gave him that death verdict. However, he showed more emotion during the sentencing hearing than during trial.
The convicted killer cried with his head in his hands as his defense attorney walked to the back of the courtroom to help bring his mother to the witness stand.
Crying inconsolably, his mother Cassandra Lloyd, told the jury that she was an alcoholic, drug addict and prostitute, who often beat her 6 children.
"I would beat the hell out of him," Lloyd said, referring to Harve Johnson.
Lloyd said she would use whatever object that she could get her hands on, including belts, the cord from a clothing iron and the iron itself. She said as a child Johnson watched as his father, who was also a drug addict, beat her until blood flowed from her face.
Johnson's mother said she has been sober for the past 15 years and she did not want Johnson to hit his three children the way she hit her kids.
Lloyd told the jury that she and her children were homeless for years at a time, often living in shelters, hallways and abandon buildings.
With his head down on the defense table, Johnson cried as his 25-year-old sister recounted her abusive childhood. Fighting back tears, she told the jury that Johnson was her best friend.
Despite the emotional testimony, Harve Johnson was handed down the death penalty.
In October the toddler's mother, Neida Baez, pleaded guilty in third degree murder. She is awaiting sentencing.
