Sentencing hearing continued for Waukegan woman who killed daughter
Nicholette Lawrence buried her face in her hands and sobbed as a three-year-old cellphone video of her using a belt to repeatedly hit her daughter, Raashanai Coley, played loudly at her sentencing hearing Thursday in Lake County court.
Assistant State's Attorney Fred Day said the video showed how Lawrence, 34, of Waukegan, had the "intent to cause physical harm on this girl for a very long time."
The 11-year-old girl's piercing cries, begging her mother to stop, was coupled with the "thwack" of the belt.
Raashanai, who defense attorney Keith Grant said in court had autism, was pronounced dead at a hospital Sept. 5, 2014, after Waukegan firefighters found her unresponsive around 9 p.m. at her Gillette Avenue house, authorities said. Lake County coroner officials said the cause of death was blunt force trauma - a punch to the girl's malnourished stomach caused a rib to perforate the stomach lining.
Lawrence was initially charged with 14 counts of first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to one murder count in October 2016.
Her sentencing hearing was continued by Judge James Booras to Friday at 10 a.m. She faces 20 years to life in prison.
Lawrence told police during the investigation that she punched Raashanai hard in the stomach two days before the girl died, authorities said. Raashanai became bloated and was vomiting, officials said.
Witnesses testified Thursday that Raashanai's stomach was extremely bloated when they arrived at the house the day she died. There was vomit in multiple places in the room, and she wasn't breathing when paramedics arrived.
Lawrence also had previously admitted to police that she hit Raashanai with an extension cord, and authorities found evidence of old cigarette burns on the girl's body.
Raashanai, who was home schooled, weighed 55 pounds when she died. She suffered from mass malnutrition and had protruding ribs and wrists, authorities said.
Pictures of her autopsy displayed in court showed the girl had bruises on her legs and arms.
The sentencing started with a video of Raashanai's 6-year-old brother telling investigators he was not allowed to talk about Raashanai in the house because she was "b-a-d," he said, spelling the word in the video.
"I don't know why she is bad," the boy said. "She steals food when I sleep."
The boy said Raashanai slept in a locked closet next to her parents' bed, and he saw Raashanai beaten with the belt. He also said she wasn't allowed to eat dinner at the table with the rest of the family and didn't receive Christmas presents.
"Mom and Dad said I am not allowed to talk about Raashanai," the boy said in the video. "If we do, we will get in big trouble."
Day did not identify the father, saying he was "not criminally implicated at this time."