DAYTON — The father of Takoda Collins, who pleaded guilty last week to murdering his 10-year-old son appeared to be most concerned about the punishment he might get while he was taken to jail.
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News Center 7 obtained cruiser camera video from Dec. 14 as Dayton Police took Al McLean to jail as part of a public records request.
“You can get the death penalty, though, right?” McLean said to the Dayton officer in the cruiser camera as he sat in handcuffs in the back seat. “You can, for Murder?”
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“That’s up to prosecutors, that’s not up to us,” the officer told McLean.
“But, death row is like the needle right?” McLean asked.
McLean’s concerns about the death penalty and lethal injection did not end up playing a role in his case. Prosecutors said they charged McLean with all possible charges, including murder, however none of the charges carried death penalty specifications.
McLean ended up pleading guilty to charges of murder, rape, kidnapping and child endangering earlier this month and is scheduled for sentencing next week.
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A 911 call in December 2019 brought police to McLean’s home, when he claimed Collins was unresponsive.
Police and firefighters were immediately suspicious as they discovered bruises and cuts all over takoda’s body.
Court documents showed Collins was kept in a dirty, locked, dark attic and was abused daily over the course of several years, often while naked.
The coroner determined Collins’ cause of death as blunt force trauma along with compressive asphyxia and water submersion.
Court documents also said that Collins was held underwater and gasping for breath prior to succumbing to his injuries.
McLean now faces between 40 and 51 years to life in prison and will be labeled a Tier III sexual offender and a violent offender.
Prosecutors told News Center 7 it is one of the worst cases they’ve dealt with and hope their efforts bring some peace to a child that had very little of it in his life.
“There’s a lot of people who loved Takoda, those that dealt with him at school, interacted with him, he was a child who was worthy of love,” said Montgomery County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lynda Dodd.
McLean’s fiancée Amanda Hinze also pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and child endangering.
Hinze and McLean were both charged with multiple felonies in the case. A third suspect, Jennifer Ebert, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges on May 27, 2020.
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