Man Acquitted of Murdering Girlfriend, 14

Thursday, April 29, 2004

(3:51 PM ET)

By Theo Emery

Associated Press Writer

Defense lawyer John Salsberg said Bryant never hurt Jones and was not concerned about having fathered a child with an underage girl.

BOSTON -- AP
A man accused of stabbing and beating a 14-year-old girl who was pregnant with his child, then burying her alive, was found innocent of murder charges Thursday.

The Suffolk Superior Court jury deliberated for more than two days before acquitting 22-year-old Kyle Bryant of two first-degree murder charges - one each for the girl and her unborn child. Bryant faces no other charges and will be allowed to go free.

Prosecutors said Bryant, who was 17 at the time, stabbed Chauntae Jones in September 1999 so he could avoid a statutory rape charge, then he and a friend buried her in a remote field at the abandoned Boston State Hospital, a mental hospital.

Bryant acknowledged being present when the girl died but claimed the friend, Lord Hampton, was solely responsible for the slaying. Hampton, 25, faces a separate trial on murder charges.

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2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan