WESTON, W.Va. — Lewis County prosecutor Christina Flanigan requested the circuit court deny convicted murdered Lena Lunsford Conaway’s request for a new trial.
Lunsford Conaway’s attorney, Tom Dyer, has requested Chief Judge Jake Reger set aside the guilty verdicts for murder, child abuse and concealment of a deceased body in the case of her missing daughter Aliayah, who vanished at age 3 in 2011. Lunsford Conaway is awaiting sentencing June 28.
Dyer seeks a new trial “on the grounds that the State suppressed or withheld evidence from the defense in violation of Brady v. Maryland.”
Dyer’s motion cited State Trooper Shannon Loudin’s testimony, in which Loudin consulted with pediatric trauma specialist Dr. Mel Wright at WVU/Ruby Hospital regarding Aliayah’s potential cause-of-death. Dyer claims that neither the identity nor reports regarding Wright or his meeting with Loudin were disclosed to the defense, despite requests for expert witness information.
Flanigan responded to Dyer’s motion for judgement of acquittal on Thursday, stating that the state presented ample testimony and evidence to the jury over the five-day trial.
“The State asserts that sufficient evidence was presented by the State from which the jury determined that the defendant was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Flanigan’s motion stated.
Aliayah Lunsford was reported missing Sept. 24, 2011, but the toddler’s body has never been located. She is presumed dead after her two older sisters testified that Lunsford Conaway fatally struck the child in the head with a wooden slat, found her unresponsive the next morning and then disposed of the body in a rural area.