Father Sentenced to Life in Prison for Throwing Daughter Off Cliff

A father was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for throwing his 4-year-old daughter off a 120-foot Southern California seaside cliff 15 years ago.

Prosecutors say Brown “despised” the mother of his child killed his daughter for revenge and because he was exhausted of paying child support. Two previous juries had been unable to reach verdicts after trials in the years since the girl’s death.

Cameron Brown’s sentence in Los Angeles Superior Court was mandatory after he was convicted of first-degree murder in May.

Then he addressed Brown, who was handcuffed and wearing orange jail garb.

Brown sat unfazed in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as the family of Lauren Sarene Key – who would have been 19 this year – delivered long-withheld words to the 53-year-old former baggage handler, who was convicted in May of murdering the girl in November 2000.

Her husband, Greg Marer, spoke of never having the opportunity to walk Lauren down the aisle and said each trial “brought our grieving process to nearly perpetuity”. Their relationship soured after she got pregnant, prosecutors said.

“We watched her sparkle fade in the last months of her life”, Key-Marer said as Brown stared stoically straight ahead.

As Brown and her brother continued to speak, Hum raised his voice and told him, “Step away, sir….”

Defense lawyer Aron Laub said Brown was a bad dad but not a murderer.

Brown did not appear to react when the sentence was read.

“She was 4 years old”, Hum shouted, noting Lauren would now be 19.

A six-man, six-woman jury – which deliberated about 1 1/2 days before convicting Brown on May 13 – also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder for financial gain and murder while lying in wait. “Lauren was our gift from God, the best thing that ever happened to us”.

“There are some crimes that are so horrendous, that are so senseless, that they just boggle the mind – they make you question our humanity”, he said, turning to Brown. During his trials, his attorneys argued that he cared for his daughter and that the girl had been playing near the cliff’s edge when she slipped and fell to her death. Brown, she said, could never accept that the girl was part of his life. Brown said, raising her voice. Key-Marer told the court that the bitter dispute had begun to steal the joy from her daughter.