FORT WORTH -- A Tarrant County jury deliberated for just 30 minutes Tuesday before handing a life sentence to a Fort Worth man who told jurors he didn't mean to hurt his fiancee's 2-year-old daughter.
Samson Loynachan, 32, who was convicted last week of murder in the death of Chloe Robinson, put his head in his hands as visiting Judge Phillip Vick read the jury's decision.Chloe's mother then tearfully told Loynachan that his actions had scarred her and her family for life."I trusted you with the things that mattered most to me -- my children," Nicole Robinson said in her victim impact statement. "You carried my daughter's casket to her grave site and continued lying to my face. ... All anyone ever wanted was the truth, and I guess we'll never know it."I love you, Chloe," she concluded. "I love you this big."Last week, Loynachan testified that Chloe must have been injured when he struck her on the head with an armrest in his vehicle. He said he was trying to cheer up the child, who was sent home early from day care because she was sick. He didn't realize the armrest had a heavy metal core, he said.Robinson was in her first day of a new job and had asked Loynachan to pick up the sick child.Chloe died the next day, Aug. 26, 2010, after emergency surgery to relieve the swelling in her brain.Prosecutors Alana Minton and Eric Nickols urged jurors to give Loynachan the maximum sentence."This defendant killed an innocent child in a fit of rage during a time that she needed nothing more than to be cared for by a loving parent," Minton said in a statement after the decision. "He told lie after lie to authorities while medical personnel tried desperately to save Chloe. The swiftness in which the jury reached their verdicts indicates they did not believe his many lies."Defense attorney Fred Cummings asked jurors to consider a lesser sentence, saying Loynachan tried to do what was right for his two children and his girlfriend's four daughters."He has been a responsible citizen up to this point in his life," Cummings said, pointing out that Loynachan served 10 years in the Navy, including a tour in Iraq, where he injured his back. "He tried to be a responsible family man."Experts disagreed on what specifically caused Chloe's death, saying a severe blow to her head or severe shaking likely caused the bleeding in her brain that killed her. But evidence presented by the prosecution indicated that the injury occurred shortly after Loynachan picked her up from day care.A day-care worker testified that Chloe was feverish and fussy but alert when she left the center with Loynachan. Within an hour, she was unconscious with a head injury. Minton suggested that Loynachan lost his temper and struck her on the side of the head with his fist and pointed out that investigators noticed that Loynachan's hand was bruised and swollen.During the punishment phase of the trial Tuesday, prosecutors presented evidence that Loynachan was harsh in handling his own young son and that he was cruel to the family dogs.Defense witnesses, including Loynachan, who made his second trip to the witness box, portrayed him as a man who worked hard at spending time with his children, particularly his daughter, who has a hearing disability.Prosecutors told jurors to reject Loynachan's many stories about what happened to Chloe."He picks on things and people that are weaker than he is," Nickols said during closing arguments Tuesday. "He's angry, he's violent, he's a liar. He's a murderer."Dianna Hunt, 817-390-7084Twitter: @DiannaHunt
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