A Lawrence man charged with murdering his 5-month-old daughter sobbed and clutched his midsection Monday while pleading with a judge to lower his bond so he could get out of jail.

“I would respectfully love to be at my daughter’s funeral,” said Jay Daniel Decker, 26. “I wouldn’t run.”

But Judge Pro Tem Peggy Kittel kept Decker’s bond at $250,000, citing the severity of the charge, Decker’s criminal history, and his lack of ties to Douglas County.

Decker is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Risha J. Lafferty. Emergency workers found the baby unresponsive Friday morning inside Decker’s apartment at Edgewood Homes, 1600 Haskell Ave., and arrested Decker after a coroner ruled the death a homicide.

It’s the second murder case this year in Lawrence involving the alleged abuse of a young child.

“Nobody likes to think about someone that innocent being the victim of a violent crime,” said Capt. Dan Affalter of the Lawrence Police Department. “I think it’s tragic that we would have any of these at all, much less two in a year.”

Decker

Another Lawrence man, 22-year-old Jason W. Dillon, is awaiting trial for the June 18 death of his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter. Both Dillon and Decker were watching the children on the day of the alleged murders while the girls’ mothers were at work, police said.

Decker’s mother, Marie Decker-Hyatt of Osawatomie, was one of at least seven family members who attended Decker’s first court appearance. All wore buttons that showed a picture of Risha – but Decker-Hyatt and others shook their heads as Dist. Atty. Charles Branson read the formal murder charge.

Decker-Hyatt said she hasn’t been told details of what happened in the moments leading up to the baby’s death. But she said she believes the death was an accident and that her son is innocent.

“The autopsy came back too fast for me,” she said. “God knows what happened. The truth will come through.”

“We’re his family. We love him. We support him whole-heartedly,” said another family member, who declined to give her name.

Family members said the baby’s mother also attended Monday’s hearing, but she left before speaking with reporters. She and Decker also have another daughter together. The older girl is staying with family members.

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Decker-Hyatt, who has the name “Jay Daniel” tattooed on her shoulder, said her son has had a rough life and that his father died in a car accident before he was born. Decker has a 1998 conviction in Johnson County for attempted robbery and a 2000 conviction in Linn County for residential burglary and vandalism, state records show.

Decker-Hyatt said her son and the baby’s mother have been together for about four years and that they moved to Lawrence from Osawatomie about two months ago.

She described Risha as having a long face and high cheekbones – a “beautiful, beautiful baby,” she said. Recently, she had begun calling the baby “Babbles” because she’d started babbling.

Police and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical were called about 8:20 a.m. Friday to Decker’s apartment. Decker was holding the baby in his arms when emergency workers arrived, said Affalter, who supervises detectives for the Lawrence Police department.

The child wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse. Affalter said there were “aggressive efforts” to revive her.

An autopsy later showed that the girl died from physical abuse, Affalter said. The explanation Decker gave police was not consistent with the baby’s injuries, Affalter said.

But he and Branson declined to comment Monday about what explanation Decker gave or about what kind of injuries Risha suffered. Affalter said only that they were “traumatic injuries.”

Decker was unemployed at the time of the death but was looking for a job, he told Kittel.

Kittel set Decker’s next court appearance for 2 p.m. Thursday before Judge Paula Martin.

He is charged with killing the baby during the commission of an inherently dangerous crime – in this case, child abuse. The charge carries a penalty of 20 years to life in prison.