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May 26, 2010 8:02 pm US/Central
Man Convicted Of Killing Toddler In Church Fight
WHEATON, Minn. (AP) ― 50-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of killing a toddler while swinging a baseball bat at her stepfather inside a church – a fight that prosecutors said stemmed from an argument over a $20 debt and home appliances.
David Collins, of Wheaton, Minn. waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted of unintentional second-degree felony murder and second-degree assault. He was acquitted of intentional second-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for June 21.
Collins could get a possible sentence of more than 17 years for his crime.
Aundrea Brownlow was 14-months-old when she got hit by the bat, cracking her skull.
According to police, Collins was arguing with Claude Hankins, Aundrea's father, about $20 Hankins owed Collins and about how a washer and dryer would be transferred to Hankins' home from Collins' home, where it was being stored.
The Rev. Danny Barnes of the Thy Kingdom Come Church in Wheaton said Saturday that he gave the washer and dryer to Hankins, and that Collins was upset about it. Hankins, 34, had moved to Wheaton from Pensacola, Fla., eight months before.
Collins confronted Hankins at a thrift store in Wheaton, a town of about 1,400 near Minnesota's border with the Dakotas. The two had to be separated, according to a criminal complaint.
Collins then went to an apartment, borrowed a baseball bat, and returned to the church, where Hankins was attending a prayer service for a sick church member, according to the complaint.
Collins confronted Hankins at the back of the church while Hankins was trying to seat his daughter and began swinging the bat over Hankins' head, the charges state. Hankins grabbed a metal chair and managed to stave off several blows, but one hit his daughter in the head above her right ear, the according to the complaint.
Collins fled the scene, threw away the bat and then took off to Brookings S.D., 100 miles away, where Barnes, the pastor, found him hours later at a bar.
At the time of the attack, Thy Kingdom Come Church, which is now closed, had catered partly to people with drug and alcohol addictions. Barnes said both Collins and Kennedy appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when they arrived there on the incident date.
Man Convicted Of Killing Toddler In Church Fight
WHEATON, Minn. (AP) ― 50-year-old man was found guilty Wednesday of killing a toddler while swinging a baseball bat at her stepfather inside a church – a fight that prosecutors said stemmed from an argument over a $20 debt and home appliances.
David Collins, of Wheaton, Minn. waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted of unintentional second-degree felony murder and second-degree assault. He was acquitted of intentional second-degree murder. His sentencing is scheduled for June 21.
Collins could get a possible sentence of more than 17 years for his crime.
Aundrea Brownlow was 14-months-old when she got hit by the bat, cracking her skull.
According to police, Collins was arguing with Claude Hankins, Aundrea's father, about $20 Hankins owed Collins and about how a washer and dryer would be transferred to Hankins' home from Collins' home, where it was being stored.
The Rev. Danny Barnes of the Thy Kingdom Come Church in Wheaton said Saturday that he gave the washer and dryer to Hankins, and that Collins was upset about it. Hankins, 34, had moved to Wheaton from Pensacola, Fla., eight months before.
Collins confronted Hankins at a thrift store in Wheaton, a town of about 1,400 near Minnesota's border with the Dakotas. The two had to be separated, according to a criminal complaint.
Collins then went to an apartment, borrowed a baseball bat, and returned to the church, where Hankins was attending a prayer service for a sick church member, according to the complaint.
Collins confronted Hankins at the back of the church while Hankins was trying to seat his daughter and began swinging the bat over Hankins' head, the charges state. Hankins grabbed a metal chair and managed to stave off several blows, but one hit his daughter in the head above her right ear, the according to the complaint.
Collins fled the scene, threw away the bat and then took off to Brookings S.D., 100 miles away, where Barnes, the pastor, found him hours later at a bar.
At the time of the attack, Thy Kingdom Come Church, which is now closed, had catered partly to people with drug and alcohol addictions. Barnes said both Collins and Kennedy appeared to be under the influence of alcohol when they arrived there on the incident date.
