October 11th 2023.
Andrew Byrd was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences on Friday for the brutal killing of his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter, Harper Mitchell. During the sentencing hearing, Circuit Judge Joey Showalter said, "No person, let alone a little girl, a little angel, should be hurt."
On April 16th, 2020, Andrew was in his home in Roanoke, Virginia with Harper and her two siblings while their mother, Amanda Mitchell, was away at work. When she returned home, she found Harper bruised, cold, and limp. Despite this, Andrew refused to call for medical help and confiscated her phone. He even threatened to kill her kids if she tried to take Harper to a hospital.
The following morning, Amanda's mother was able to get hold of her phone and called the police. Harper was taken to a hospital, however, she was taken off life support three days later. The medical examiner revealed that Harper's death was caused by blunt-force trauma to her head and it looked like she had been in a bad car crash.
A jury convicted Andrew of eight counts including aggravated murder, child neglect, abduction, assault and battery, aggravated malicious wounding, interfering with an emergency call and possessing a methamphetamine. They did not find him guilty of brandishing a firearm.
TJ Mitchell, Harper's father, spoke to the judge about how hard it was to take his daughter off life support. Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Rehak said that a life sentence for Andrew was "probably too kind, and too much mercy." Amanda Mitchell, Harper's mother, is facing pending charges for child abuse, cruelty and drug possession.
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