A 68-year-old Maryland father is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars after a state judge sentenced him to the maximum prison sentence for killing and disposing of his daughter’s body because she was murdered. alleged drug addiction.
Circuit evaluation Jennifer Schiff sentenced Malik Samartaneya former Marine who was formerly known as Lawrence Bankssentenced to 41 years in prison for the gruesome murder of a 43-year-old in 2019 Dominique Fostera mother of six whose remains were dumped near a local landfill, Court records Reviewed by Law & Crime show.
A Baltimore city grand jury in October found Samartaney guilty of one count of second-degree murder and one count of illegally burying or disposing of a human body in the May 2019 murder of Foster.
During the proceedings, prosecutors argued that Samartaney had grown enraged over his daughter’s alleged drug addiction and murder, Baltimore Sun report.
Samartaney’s defense attorney, Deborah Levi, asserting her client’s innocence. The attorney is said to have come up with a theory at trial when blaming Foster’s murder on members of MS-13. Levi did not immediately respond to a message from Law & Crime seeking comment on the conviction.
According to reports, Samartaney was speaking in court, reading a statement in which he maintained his innocence and complained about the “nightmare” his life has experienced since the start of his incarceration. hold.
“Your honor, I’m sorry about my daughter’s death, but I didn’t do it. I dream every night that I find someone who will do it,” said Samartaney.
Judge Schiffer, however, was uninterested in hearing about Samartaney’s hardships, and criticized him before delivering the maximum sentence.
“Mr. Samartaney mentioned his ‘nightmare.’ There, she had no way of knowing that she would end up in pieces in a shopping cart.”
Samartaney’s sentence is broken down as follows: 40 years for second-degree murder and one year for unlawful dumping, both maximums under Maryland law.
Authorities in May 2019 responded to a call about a suspicious package near a landfill in Baltimore City, Fox News report in September. Baltimore Police Department officers arrived at the scene and discovered an abandoned shopping cart filled with a large black trash bag that appeared to be covered in blood.
Inside the bag, investigators said they found most of the remains of an adult woman. Hands, feet and head were all missing. The bag was located about 700 meters from Samartaney’s home.
Family members are said to have identified the remains as Foster after police released photos of her tattoos. The family said they immediately suspected Samartaney of being behind Foster’s death, telling police he had a history of violence, including a history of assault in 1975 for throwing 7-month-old Foster through a glass window after arguing arguing with the child’s mother. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
After his release, Samartaney in 1991 shot and killed a friend of his, then drove to his 17-year-old son’s foster home and killed the boy. He insist guilty and undisputed with the respective murders and sentenced to 20 years in prison each, to be served concurrently, court records show. He was released after 11 years, changing his name shortly after being released from prison.
Samartaney told the court that after killing his own son, he swore to God that he would never kill anyone or anything again.
“I had fruit flies in my cell and didn’t even get out of the cage,” Samartaney told the court.
Foster’s daughter wrote a victim impact statement and read it aloud by the prosecutor.
“My mother is the most beautiful person I know, inside and out,” Foster’s daughter wrote. “Your honor, I ask for the longest sentence possible. I ask this not for revenge but for everyone’s safety.”
