Entering court to see the judge. Dariaz Lewis Higgins had changed plea to guilty in the beating death of his 2-year-old daughter, leaving her body in his hotel room for days, then wrapping the body in a hotel blanket and dumping it roadside north of Austin. This was five years ago. Meanwhile, he’s been in a Wisconsin prison for murdering the girl’s mother.
Latest sentence concurrent with Wisconsin life term
AUSTIN Minn. — A 210-month prison sentence was ordered against a man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter at an Austin hotel and several days later leaving her body in a roadside ditch during a blizzard. Dariaz Lewis Higgins, 40, had propose a plea deal, but Judge Natalie Martinez would have none of it. The sentence will be concurrent with a life sentence that Higgins already is serving in Wisconsin for slaying the child’s mother. This all was five years ago. For the Huggins, in orange jail coveralls. was strapped in a chair that a bailiff wheeled into the courtroom. Higgins was emotionless throughout the hearing. Asked whether he struck the child with closed fists in frustration, he gave a curt “yes.” No remorse was evident. He kept his head down most of the time. When Judge Martinez asked if he planned to disagree with the charges against him, Higgins answered, “No ma’am.”
Family testimony
An uncle and a grandmother to 2-year-old Noelani Robinson testified over the internet. The uncle said he struggles with post-traumatic syndrome almost every day from losing Noelina and her mother Sierra Robinson. Noelina’s grandmother told the court she was grateful that justice finally was being served.