Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Man Clobbers Girl With Brick, Gets 15 Years

Associated Press

A Boise man who repeatedly hit a 6-year-old girl on the head with a brick has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Zane Garland strolled by a daycare center twice before hoisting a brick at Audra Morgan last October, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jean Fisher told 4th District Judge Alan Schwartzman on Monday.

He beat Audra on the head while her twin sister, Camille, watched helplessly.

Garland, who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery, would be eligible for parole in 2000.

His attorney, Doreen Guenther, had asked Schwartzman for a “compassionate” sentence rather than the maximum 15 years. She emphasized her client had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

At the time of the attack, Garland, 26, had stopped taking his medication, court testimony revealed. Since his arrest, Garland has told psychologists he does not remember attacking the girl.”He is not the kind of person who would normally engage in this kind of behavior,” Guenther said. “There is enough room in this case for some compassion for Zane as well as for little Audra Morgan.”

Audra, who suffered injuries to her skull and eyes, is recovering.