Father pushes daughter off cliff to so he wouldn't have to pay child support

"A father has been found guilty of throwing his four-year-old daughter off a cliff because he did not want to pay child support.

Cameron Brown, 53, was convicted on Wednesday, 15 years on from the incident in 2000 which saw his young child fall to her death from a cliff in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

The child, Lauren Sarene Key, was deliberately pushed by Brown, who worked as an airport baggage handler at the time.

The court heard that Brown did not want to pay child support, which was costing him $1,000-a-month while he was locked in a bitter custody battle with the child's mother.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder after Lauren's mother fought for more than a decade for justice. 

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Detective Jeffrey Leslie, who has represented the child's mother Sarah Key-Marer since the tragic incident in 2000, said after the conviction: "I was relieved for [the mother]. "I’ve been doing this job for 16 years. I don’t believe in closure anymore. I just hope we brought justice to Lauren and her family." Brown's conviction came following a third trial of the case, with two previous juries deadlocked over his guilt.

Key-Marer hugged jurors following the conviction, and was seen telling the jury's foreman: "Thank you, thank you." She told reporters after the hearing: "Lauren was our gift from God, the best thing to ever happen to us. We just learned to live with the pain. "There are no winners here, certainly not for Cameron’s family, and not for ours." Aron Laub, who defended Brown, riled against the decision - insisting Brown did not intentionally kill his daughter.

He added: "I believe in our jury system, but I can’t believe that this was a just verdict." There have been two separate trials in the case - one in 2006, and another in 2009.

In the first, two jurors voted to convict Brown of first-degree murder, eight voting for second-degree murder and two favouring manslaughter.

After a second trial the jury found itself evenly split between second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Brown now faces a life sentence, and will appear back in court on June 19." Via DailyMirror