{"id":47030,"date":"2013-12-17T18:04:16","date_gmt":"2013-12-18T02:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=47030"},"modified":"2013-12-19T16:10:49","modified_gmt":"2013-12-20T00:10:49","slug":"man-pleads-not-guilty-to-killing-girlfriends-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/12\/17\/man-pleads-not-guilty-to-killing-girlfriends-baby\/","title":{"rendered":"Man pleads not guilty to killing girlfriend\u2019s baby"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_47031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47031\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Worthen-and-Zanai.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47031\" alt=\"After several arraignment delays, Matthew Worthen (inset) appeared in an Antelope Valley courtroom Tuesday (Dec. 17), where a pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend\u2019s daughter, 2-year-old Zanai Noel.\" src=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Worthen-and-Zanai.jpg\" width=\"960\" height=\"698\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Worthen-and-Zanai.jpg 960w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Worthen-and-Zanai-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">After several arraignment delays, Matthew Worthen (inset) appeared in an Antelope Valley courtroom Tuesday (Dec. 17), where a pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend\u2019s daughter, 2-year-old Zanai Noel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>LANCASTER \u2013 A 23-year-old man accused of beating to death his girlfriend\u2019s 2-year-old daughter in September has pleaded not guilty to the charges.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Matthew Worthen<\/strong> entered the plea Tuesday (Dec. 17) in an Antelope Valley courtroom, where he was arraigned for murder and assault on a child causing death, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>Two-year-old <strong>Zanai Noel<\/strong> had rib fractures, hemorrhages, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding and a pulverized liver when Worthen and the child\u2019s mother brought her to Palmdale Regional Medical Center around 9:25 p.m. on September 22, according to detectives. The toddler was pronounced dead an hour later.<\/p>\n<p>Zanai\u2019s mother told detectives she left the child with Worthen for a few minutes while she went to the store. The fatal beating occurred during that time, detectives allege.<\/p>\n<p>Worthen was arrested on Sept. 26, after a coroner\u2019s autopsy report confirmed Zanai\u2019s cause of death.<\/p>\n<p>Zanai\u2019s mother has not been charged in the case.<\/p>\n<p>A preliminary hearing for Worthen is scheduled for January 28, 2014. At the conclusion of that hearing, a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence against Worthen to take the case to trial.<\/p>\n<p>Worthen remains jailed on 1,020,000 bail.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Previous related story<\/span>: <a title=\"Palmdale toddler beaten to death, mom\u2019s boyfriend charged with murder\" href=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/09\/30\/palmdale-toddler-beaten-to-death-moms-boyfriend-charged-with-murder\/\" target=\"_blank\">Palmdale toddler beaten to death<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANCASTER \u2013 A 23-year-old man accused of beating to death his girlfriend\u2019s 2-year-old daughter in September has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Matthew Worthen entered the plea Tuesday (Dec. 17) in an Antelope Valley courtroom, where he was arraigned for murder and assault on a child causing death, according to the Los Angeles District [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":47031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}