Cheyenne man pleads guilty to killing girlfriend's toddler son

Lamb’s attorney, Wyoming State Public Defender Diane Lozano, and prosecutors jointly recommended 45 to 60 years in prison on the murder charge. Sentencing will likely take place sometime in March.

Second-degree murder in Wyoming carries a possible sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

In the course of pleading guilty Wednesday morning, Lamb said he hadn’t meant to kill the toddler. He said the child had thrown a piece of food, and that this had triggered an “incredible anger” that led Lamb to put his hand over the child’s mouth, with the intention of causing the child pain and making him “pass out.”

Lamb admitted Wednesday that he was not supposed to be living with his then-girlfriend, Kassandra Orona, who is Athian’s mother, because he’d previously been charged with choking her. Lamb said that at the time of the murder, he had a warrant out for his arrest for bond violation in that case. For this reason, he was not working and, as Lozano described it, was “isolating” himself in Orona’s apartment.

Lamb also pleaded guilty, pursuant to an Alford plea, to felony child abuse. The parties agreed this should warrant eight to 10 years in prison, but would be concurrent with any sentence in the murder charge. The child abuse charge relates to burns found on the toddler’s genitals, upper legs and groin area.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to accept the consequences of a guilty plea without having to admit guilt, while also admitting the prosecution could likely prove the charges against them in a jury trial.

He also pleaded no-contest to strangulation of a household member in the February 2020 domestic violence against Orona. Lozano said the no-contest plea was due to Lamb being “heavily intoxicated” during the incident. The parties also recommended eight to 10 years in prison on this charge, but Lamb would serve this consecutive to any sentence in the other charges.

The plea agreement also asks that Lamb be able to serve his sentence on the strangulation charge first.

Plea agreements merely include sentencing recommendations. Judges have the final say when it comes to sentencing criminal defendants.

Special prosecutors Michael Blonigen and Pat Crank sent a statement to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Wednesday morning following Lamb’s pleas.

“We sincerely hope that these pleas begin to provide healing and grace to (Athian’s) mother and (Athian’s) family from the horrific events that occurred on February 18 to February 19, 2021,” it said. “The pleas allow the family to not have to relive and be further injured by Lamb’s murderous behavior and the trauma of a trial.”

The statement also thanked law enforcement involved in the case, including the Cheyenne Police Department, as well as the investigator in the DA’s office and the Wyoming State Crime Lab.

“This collective team did an amazing job collecting and analyzing delicate and critical evidence that led to the plea and to justice being served in this matter,” the statement continued.

Lozano declined further comment on Wednesday.

Lamb said during Wednesday’s hearing that he is currently on parole for a felony DUI charge. In Wyoming, driving under the influence becomes a felony after four consecutive DUIs within a period of 10 years.

Lamb was initially charged with first-degree murder and 10 felony counts of child abuse. He pleaded not guilty to all counts in August 2021.

The murder

Two-year-old Athian was reported missing by Orona at around 1 p.m. on Feb. 19, 2021, according to court documents. His body was discovered around 3 p.m. that day in a dumpster just outside an entrance to Orona’s apartment, which was located in the 400 block of Desmet Drive.

Lamb was living with Orona and her three children, including Athian. It was normal, he said, that he’d watch the children while Orona was at work. This was the case on the evening of Feb. 18, 2021.

“I was getting ready to put them to bed – I changed their diapers, made them bottles, I figured that I’d give them a snack before I put them down,” Lamb said.

The children loved honey buns, he said, so he broke one up to give to them.

Athian “threw his honey bun – probably won’t ever know why that just completely tore down all the barriers in my mind holding back everything I was dealing with at that time. I just became overwhelmed with this incredible anger I’ve never felt in my life,” Lamb said. “It was just a very surreal tunnel vision, and he was, unfortunately, the only thing in my view, and I grabbed him by his leg and I pulled him toward me, and then I put my right hand over his mouth.

“And when I try and think back to that event, to what I was doing, I was just trying to … I wanted him to feel the pain, the suffering that I was feeling on the inside,” Lamb continued. “I just wanted him to pass out and just feel that pain. I never intended to kill him.”

Lamb said that when he realized Athian was not breathing, he “panicked.” He said he tried to perform CPR, but that liquid began coming out of the child’s mouth.

“I was freaking out at that point, I was grasping at straws, and so I started, in my messed up state of mind, I figured if I start punching his chest, maybe, maybe just by some miracle, that’s going to jolt his heart and he’d come back, and obviously it didn’t work out that way,” Lamb said.

After it was clear Athian was dead, Lamb said he wanted to make the child “disappear” to prevent Orona from having to see her son that way. He said he realized his “terrible mistake” and how both their lives would be completely changed, but there was some “messed up” part of his mind that thought if he could get rid of the child’s body, “we could all just eventually be a normal, happy family again.”

In response to a question by Lozano, Lamb said it was “fair” to say that he didn’t remember everything from that night. He said he had been consistently using marijuana “very heavily” at the time of the murder, and that he’d used it about 20 minutes before that incident.

The toddler was found to have died from brain swelling potentially caused by blunt force trauma, restriction of oxygen, or both, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Forensic pathologist Dr. James Wilkerson, who conducted an autopsy alongside Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid, noted “scattered blunt force injuries over much of the body,” including multiple contusions and abrasions, as well as burn marks on the toddler’s genitals, upper legs and groin area consistent with a handheld torch found at Orona’s apartment.

Wilkerson issued the autopsy report, signed on May 6, which ruled Athian’s death a homicide. He advised Reid that the cause of death was cerebral edema with herniation, with three contributing factors: blunt force injuries, suffocation and thermal injuries. He said Athian was the victim of “non-accidental trauma,” according to the affidavit.

Wilkerson also observed complete or partial collapse of a lung or lung area, which he said was caused by suffocation or manual strangulation.

Gag order

Blonigen and Crank replaced Laramie County District Attorney Leigh Anne Manlove in the case earlier this year.

Manlove had objected to the possibility of moving Lamb’s trial from December to February, which meant she would no longer be in office when the case was tried. She said that, due to understaffing and the amount of evidence in the case, she could not assign it to another attorney in her office.

Manlove did not run for a second term as DA. Her term ends in early January, when DA-elect Sylvia Hackl will take over the office.

Lozano had previously asked the court to place a gag order on Manlove after comments she made to the WTE in May. The state public defender objected to comments made by Manlove implying that there had been discussions about a plea agreement in the case, and that Manlove wouldn’t accept such a deal.

As part of a gag order agreement reached in August, Manlove “agreed not to make any comments about this case to the newspaper,” Lozano said at the time. Lozano added that Blonigen had spoken with Manlove “and we’re all in agreement in that regard.”

Lozano also said there is an agreement with Bruce Moats, an attorney representing the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in the case, and WTE Managing Editor Brian Martin, that the newspaper would agree not to repeat the exact statements made by Manlove in future coverage of the case.

Blonigen retired as the Natrona County DA in 2018, later returning to the office to serve as an assistant DA. Crank is a Cheyenne attorney who served as Wyoming’s attorney general from 2002 to 2007.