Arthur Morgan

The lawyer for a man charged with killing his 2-year-old daughter by tossing her into a creek while still strapped into her car seat said Wednesday that the real question for the jury is not whether he did it but whether he was thinking clearly that night.

One of the biggest stories in the area is undoubtedly the search, capture, and now trial of Arthur Morgan the third. I've had the opportunity to follow the story from the moment Tierra went missing to when I found out Morgan was going to have his first court date in New Jersey.

Imani Benton’s young daughter was found dead in a park stream on Nov. 22, allegedly killed by Arthur E. Morgan III, Benton’s former boyfriend and the girl’s father. And if she could have her baby back, Benton says she would endure it all over again: Morgan’s possessiveness, the alleged beatings at his hand and the “hell on earth” it was to be with him at times.

The 2-year-old girl from Lakehurst whose smile was so widely known among congregants that they dubbed her “the church baby” was laid to rest Monday, a week after she was tossed into a creek, still strapped into her car seat.