A North Braddock man cursed at an Allegheny County judge Wednesday as she sentenced him under "a three strikes and you're out" law to life without chance of parole for the beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter.
Marion Tinsley, 37, hurled profanities at Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel and the victim's mother, Angelina Glover, as he was sentenced for third-degree murder in the death of Tamara Banks, on Feb. 19, 2001.
Deputy District Attorney Laura Ditka had asked McDaniel to impose a life term because Tinsley had a long history, beginning at the age of 15, of violent crimes.
Third-degree murder carries a possible 20 to 40 years in prison, but under the law the judge can impose a life term for a third conviction for a violent crime.
McDaniel said Tinsley was watching Tamara in the girl's Stowe Township home when he burned her hands and then beat her when she wouldn't stop crying.
Tinsley talked continuously as the judge spoke, claiming, "I don't have to listen to this. You don't care about her memory. I do."
"This is absolutely one of the most horrible crimes I have heard of in my life. You are a menace to society," McDaniel told Tinsley.
"No, I'm not a menace," Tinsley shot back.
At the point he was sentenced to life without parole, Tinsley said, "(expletive) you and (expletive) her," indicating the judge and Tamara's mother.
Glover, 29, testified that Tamara, her daughter by another man, was fine when she left her in Tinsley's care to go to a bar to get cigarettes.
Glover said she returned to find her daughter had burns on her hands that Tinsley said were caused when hot cooking oil splashed on her, and a bruise on her forehead, which he said came from a fall down steps, and a bruise on her stomach.
The child, who was listless all evening, later stopped breathing and died before paramedics arrived.
Glover has pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child for not seeking immediate treatment for the toddler.
