BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A Brevard County father charged with third-degree felony murder after investigators said he left his 9-month-old girl in a hot vehicle won't get the murder charge dropped.
Attorneys for Steven Lillie said he didn't realize he left Anna Marie in the vehicle on June 16, 2014 until it was too late.
Lillie is charged with third-degree felony murder, manslaughter and leaving a child unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle. The judge ruled that the murder charge and leaving a child unattended charge will not be dropped.
“Essentially, what the government is saying is we could prosecute this man, we can give him 35 years in prison. He's supposed to go to prison over 12 years, yet we won't have to prove he had any knowledge that he left the child in the car, that's just wrong,” said defense attorney James Kontos.
Lillie told investigators he forgot to drop his daughter at her grandmother's house and left her in the back of his Dodge Durango for hours as he went to work in Rockledge. By the time he realized she was there, it was too late. He spoke to Eyewitness News before charges were filed in the case in 2014.
“Anna was the greatest thing that ever happened to my world,” Lillie told Channel 9’s Melonie Holt.
Lillie's attorneys don't believe he should be prosecuted as charged in the accidental death of his daughter, but prosecutors disagree.
“I guess he's saying that, "I forgot," is some type of an excuse,” said Julie Lynch, assistant state attorney.
Lillie's attorneys will still be allowed to argue that he did forget, and never intended to leave Anna Marie behind.
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