Death penalty remains active in Lambing case
A Butler County Court order delivered Friday denied the dismissal of a first-degree homicide charge — and with it the death penalty — against a Butler man charged in connection with the death of a 4-year-old child.
The order, handed down by Judge Timothy McCune, denied a habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of Keith Jordan Lambing, 20, who was charged with first-degree homicide, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with serious bodily injury, rape of a child, rape of a child with serious bodily injury and other charges in connection with the death of 4-year-old Bentley Thomas Miller on March 21 at the Super 8 motel on Route 8 in Butler Township.
Chief Public Defender Kevin Flaherty, Lambing's attorney, had previously argued that the Commonwealth presented no testimony supporting the element of “willful, deliberate and premeditated” intent in regards to the homicide charge, making a charge of first-degree homicide inappropriate.
A full report will appear in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.
