A 44-year-old Georgia father will serve time in prison after leaving his two young children in a car with an unsecured handgun, leading to the tragic death of his 7-year-old son. On Thursday, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson sentenced Dante Lamar Daugherty to two years in a state correctional facility for the 2023 death of Z’ayre Daugherty, authorities announced.
The sentence came after Daugherty pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree cruelty to children as part of a non-negotiated deal with prosecutors, District Attorney Sherry Boston said. In addition to his incarceration, Daugherty will serve eight years of probation.
Prosecutors had initially sought a sentence of five years in custody, followed by five years of probation.
As Law&Crime previously reported, DeKalb County Police Department officers responded around 6:10 p.m. on Monday to a report of a child being shot at a Texaco gas station on the 1800 block of Rock Chapel Road in Lithonia, approximately 20 miles east of Atlanta.
When first responders arrived, they found Daugherty in the back seat of an SUV holding his son, who had sustained a gunshot wound to the head. Emergency medical personnel later pronounced Z’ayre dead at the scene.
Police recovered Daugherty’s firearm and the shell casing from inside the vehicle. Daugherty and his 5-year-old son, who was also in the car, were taken to DKPD Headquarters, where Daugherty gave a statement.
He told detectives that he initially took both children out of the vehicle at the gas station but returned them to the SUV after noticing that Z’ayre was missing a sock and a shoe.
“Daugherty took his gun off of his waistband, wrapped it in a cloth, and placed it under the driver’s seat before heading into the gas station,” prosecutors wrote. “While inside, Defendant Daugherty noticed one of the rear doors open on the SUV and returned to find that Z’ayre had been shot. He was unsure if Z’ayre had shot himself or had been shot by his brother. The brother was unable to tell investigators what exactly had happened.”
Surveillance footage from the station appeared to corroborate Daugherty’s account, showing both children entering the back seat before “a flash of gunfire” occurred.
The gas station clerk told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB that Daugherty was a “regular” customer who had come in to play the lottery. While Daugherty was inside, the 5-year-old can be seen opening the passenger-side back door and running from the vehicle toward a busy intersection in a panic.
Records show that Daugherty previously pleaded guilty to battery against a family member and disorderly conduct in 2015, receiving 24 months’ probation. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of loitering for drugs and was sentenced to six months’ probation.
