CINCINNATI -- After less than an hour of deliberation on Wednesday afternoon, a jury recommended a death sentence for Glen Bates, the man convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, Glenara.
Judge Megan E. Shanahan didn't hand down a sentence in court on Wednesday; she has the option to impose a lesser sentence.
Bates was found guilty of aggravated murder in his daughter's death Monday afternoon. The sentencing phase gets underway Wednesday.
The jury said it found Bates to be "the principal offender" in the torture, beating and killing of Glenara Bates in 2015.
Bates' attorney called character witnesses -- family and friends of Bates -- who called Bates "a protector" and "friend."
Defense closing: We're asking you to give you life without parole... Just one...and the death sentence is avoided. @WCPO
— Rose-Ann Aragon WCPO (@RAragonWCPO) September 28, 2016
Ryan Parker, a friend of Bates who said he's a pastor associated with New Jerusalem Baptist Church, spoke about the parenting he saw Bates do with his 12-year-old son.
"What I learned about being a parent, I learned through observations of him and [his son]," Parker said. "He was loving, caring."
Stacey Jones, the mother of Bates' 12-year-old son, asked that the court not take the father away from the boy.
"My son would be devastated if his dad died," Jones said. "You can't have another father."
Last week, Glenara's 10-year-old sister testified that she saw Bates swing the toddler by the legs and bang her head against a wall until she stopped crying. The next day, Glenara's eyes were shut and she was motionless, her sister said.
That was the fatal blow, prosecutors said, and they drove that home in closing arguments Monday morning. Autopsy photos presented by the deputy coroner brought tears to jurors' eyes. The bites, scratches and bruises were too numerous to count, and a gash on her forehead was held together by sewing thread.
"Imagine him swinging her around," the prosecution said Wednesday. "Tell me he's not a monster."
Bates' mother, Benita Crum, defended him.
"He knows I love him. He knows I forgive him. He knows I have his back. He is not a monster," she said. "He is not a murder."
Prosecutor describes Bates as creating a "chamber of horror" for daughter @WCPO
— Rose-Ann Aragon WCPO (@RAragonWCPO) September 28, 2016
Glenara's mother is scheduled for trial next month.
