Judge: Dad Accused Of Killing Daughter Is Forbidden From Attending Her Funeral
BALDWIN: A father is forbidden from attending his little girl's funeral. Police say his father killed his daughter in a drunken spree. Take a look at 11-year-old Shantee Lanza. She was having a slumber party with friends inside this house, her mother's house last weekend. Her mom got angry because her father brought a gun to the party. She told the dad to get out, to leave. Prosecutors say Shantee's father left and got really drunk and came back hours later. Outside the house her father allegedly fired four wild shots into the air. One bullet pierced the second story bedroom where Shantee was hiding and landed in her chest. The father has pleaded not guilty to reckless homicide. Shantee's mother wanted him at the funeral just to help her say goodbye, but a judge now says no way. Because someone else might get shot at the funeral because this is held in a rough neighborhood. The judge worries that vigilantes might bring guns to the funeral. CNN legal analyst, Sunny Hostin, joins me here in New York and there a lot of layers to this one. Do you think that was fair?</s>SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do think it's fair. I mean, if someone is being held pending trial, a compassionate release even for the day is up to the judge. It's not something that is randomly given. There is a balancing test that needs to be done. You do have to look at security. You do have to look at victims' issues --</s>BALDWIN: It was just really about the neighborhood?</s>HOSTIN: Well, I think it was probably a bit about the neighborhood. I think it was a bit about security and I also think when you look at the history of this case, which I have done, this is a man who three times was charged with violent domestic abuse of his wife. Three times those charges had to be dropped because she refused to come to trial and testify against him. And so we are not talking about someone that hasn't had activity with the law and when we are talking obviously about someone that is violent. When you have that kind of recipe, it's a recipe for disaster. So I think the judge did the right thing here because you can't continue to enable this type of violence.</s>BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you. Coming up here, an Ohio man executed with a drug combination never used before. Today the state of Ohio said it took Dennis McGuire nearly 25 minutes to die. His kids call it torture. Now that family is filing a lawsuit to stop all executions in Ohio next hour. We will look at how their case could impact death penalty in the U.S.