BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois jury convicted a man Tuesday of killing his former girlfriend's three children, who drowned when their car rolled into a lake.
Prosecutors said Maurice LaGrone Jr. and the children's mother planned the deaths and intentionally let the car roll into Clinton Lake on Sept. 2, 2003, with the children inside.
Defense attorneys argued LaGrone made bad decisions, such as parking too close to the water on a boat ramp, but did not intentionally drown the children.
LaGrone showed no reaction as the verdict was read. The 30-year-old faced nine counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 6-year-old Christopher Hamm, 3-year-old Austin Brown and 23-month-old Kyleigh Hamm. Prosecutors had vowed to seek the death penalty. The children's mother, Amanda Hamm, faces identical charges at a later trial.