Monday 31 August 2015

father attacks his 3-year-old daughter's killer during sentencing hearing


fight broke out in a Detroit, Michigan courtroom on Friday, as a father attacked the man responsible for killing his 3-year-old daughter during a sentencing hearing.

Dwayne Smith's daughter Jamila died in September 2014, after her mother Jasmine Gordon and Gordon's husband Clifford Thomas took her to the hospital when she stopped breathing.


The couple claimed that the little girl hit her head and then fell unconscious, but experts later determined that the girl's death was a homicide, after suffering physical abuse from Thomas.

Both Gordon and Thomas were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials, but appeared in court at the same time on Friday so that victims wouldn't have to give their statements twice.


Smith was one of the victims in court set to address the couple, but instead of speaking his frustrations he decided to physically attack Thomas.

Video taken from inside the court shows the moment that Smith punched Thomas, as the convicted child abuser was sitting, facing the judge, dressed in a yellow jail uniform.

A fight then breaks out between the two men and sheriff's deputies have to step in to separate them. 

After the fight, Smith was ordered out of the courtroom and now allowed to return. However, the judge decided not to hold him in contempt of court, and he was allowed to go without facing any charges for the tussle.

The court took a recess after the fight, but later resumed and both Gordon and Thomas were sentenced.


Jasmine Gordon, 25 (pictured), and Clifford Thomas, 34, were found guilty in separate trial for involuntary manslaughter of Gordon's daughter Jamile

Gordon, 25, was sentenced to seven to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter and 14 to 25 years for first-degree child abuse as an aider and abettor. Those sentences will be served at the same time.

Meanwhile, 34-year-old Thomas was sentenced to six to 15 years for involuntary manslaughter and one to two years for resisting and obstructing a police officer. 
Thomas was babysitting Gordon's daughter Jamila and her son while she was at work on September 18, 2014. 
She was later rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. 
Doctors found that the little girl had bruises on her head and chest that showed signs of physical abuse.   

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