A convicted killer, responsible for the death of an 18-month-old girl from White Hall, was resentenced this week.
Thirty-two-year-old Lee K. Ponshe was initially sentenced to life in prison for the 2009 murder of Halli Burton, but the law requiring a mandatory life term because of the victim’s age was declared unconstitutional last year.
According to “The Herald-News”, Ponshe was back in Will County court yesterday, where his sentence was changed from life in prison to 75 years behind bars.
Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow says Ponshe was found guilty in December of 2012 for beating the baby to death.
In a quote published by “The Daily Journal”, Glasgow explained that “Ponshe began beating the little girl in the early morning hours of April 15 (2009) because she was crying and would not sleep. On the following day, the defendant put the victim down for a nap at around 5 p.m. The little girl, however, slipped into a coma and died as a result of her injuries.”
The child suffered 20 bruises on the top of her head, three to her forehead, one to the cheek and five to her back.
Multiple sources confirm Ponshe, who was 25 at the time of the crime, was not the child’s father. Ponshe made connection over the internet with the mother, Jessi Dunlap, who lived in White Hall in 2009.