Mother, boyfriend tied to child’s death delay trial

By BOB WHITE bwhite@thenewsenterprise.com ELIZABETHTOWN — Attorneys representing a mother and the boyfriend charged in her child’s 2007 beating death filed enough last-minute motions to effectively delay today’s scheduled trial date. Danielle Marie Lucas, 26, and Antwan LaDale Hayes, 23, are both charged with murder and criminal abuse for what a state medical examiner described as a brutal and fatal “pounding” of the child’s torso last August. Among the eight motions filed before Tuesday’s motion hour docket began were two asking for continuances, one moving for exclusion of graphic medical examiner’s photos and a joint motion asking Judge Janet Coleman to move the case elsewhere because of preliminary coverage on the case by The News-Enterprise. Ron Hines, attorney for the mother, said during a previous court hearing that newspaper articles had aired privileged, inside information about the investigation known only to investigators and parties directly involved. Investigators and prosecutors were cautious about making any comment about the case this week because of the pending change of venue motion. With so many motions filed a day before the trial was to begin, the court decided to hear them today, instead of trying to squeeze them all into an already loaded docket Tuesday. Kristin Pollock, Hayes co-counsel, said a hearing for the motions will begin 9 a.m. today giving the parties most of the day to discuss the requests. Coleman ruled already the cases against Lucas and Hayes will be tried together. Hines fought against consolidation since his client allegedly was not at the scene when police say Hayes beat the child. Prosecutors, however, say Lucas is equally responsible for the boy’s death. “She came home and found him suffering, but then left, taking the only car and phone that could have been used to help her son,” prosecutor Jenohn L. Smith said during a previous court hearing. The mother was working late at an Elizabethtown restaurant the night her son died, according to police. They say when Lucas came home she found her son seriously injured, that she left her Vista Drive home for hours before returning and finally seeking treatment for him. “She did nothing to help him,” Elizabethtown detective David Neary said during an interview two months after the death. Six-year-old Mar’riel, a choir member at his church and, by all other accounts, a sweet, obedient child, was pronounced dead several hours later after being transferred from Hardin Memorial Hospital to Kosair Children’s Hospital in Louisville. Hayes was charged with murder almost immediately. A month later, Lucas was indicted in her son’s death — and was charged with criminal abuse and murder. Mar’riel’s grandmother, Carolyn Carpenter, said Lucas had to have known how injured the child was when she saw him after coming home from work. “Any mother, I don’t care how young or how old you are, can tell just by looking at your child’s face what kind of day he’s had,” she said. Carpenter has said Mar’riel feared Hayes and worried he’d find out about mishaps such as spilled juice at grandma’s house.  Bob White can be reached at (270) 505-1750.