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Ogden • During a nearly 10-hour interview with Ogden police detectives, Adam Joseph Barney allegedly admitted to killing his live-in girlfriend's baby daughter last year, telling investigators that he punched the child in the stomach "with everything I had."
During a preliminary hearing on Friday, Detective Darren Goff testified that Barney told him on Aug. 25, 2014, that some of the bruises on 14-month-old Kenzie Rose La Buy were accidental, but others — including the punch to the stomach — were inflicted on purpose.
Goff testified that Barney said he'd "decided to get into the shower with her. He said he had slipped and fallen and when he fell down, he landed on her with his fist. … He said the [hit] to the face was an accident. Then he progressed and struck her in the stomach and that was not an accident."
Barney also told detectives, Goff said, that after he punched the child, he wrapped Kenzie in a towel and squeezed her tightly until she stopped crying.
Deputy Weber County Attorney Dean Saunders told Judge W. Brent West that Barney admitted "that he killed her, but he didn't kill her on purpose."
After hearing testimony from Goff and a medical examiner, the judge ruled there was probable cause for Barney to stand trial for the crime.
Barney, 23, pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, which carries the potential for the death penalty.
He will be in court again Feb. 18 for a pre-trial conference.
Barney called 911 on Aug. 25 to report that Kenzie was not breathing, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in court.
Court records indicate that Barney also told police he lashed out at the victim because he was frustrated that the motel room was dirty, the other two children belonging to his girlfriend were misbehaving, and Kenzie was crying.
Barney allegedly told police that after attacking the girl, he left the motel room where they were staying to go walking with the three children.
While they were out, the girl was "lethargic and acting as if she was short of breath," according to the affidavit. The girl died in her stroller after they returned to the room.
Barney allegedly called the girl's mother, Kaci Rupert, who told him to call 911.
Kenzie's father, James La Buy, was in court Friday and said afterward that it was difficult to listen to the testimony about the injuries his baby suffered.
"… I saw my daughter in good health and to hear her degradation and then to hear exactly what was done to her was hard," La Buy said.
La Buy, who drove from his Washington home to attend the hearing, said he hopes Barney is tried justly and fairly, and punished to the fullest extent of the law. However, he said he felt the death penalty is "the easy way out."
"I don't think here in this existence justice can be served," he said. "The only person he truly has to stand before is God. And then he'll have to answer for what he's done."
Assistant Utah medical examiner Erik Christensen testified that Kenzie was very small and underweight for her age. He said the nearly 15-month-old's weight was about average for a 5-month-old child.
An autopsy revealed that the girl died of internal hemorrhaging caused by blunt force trauma to her abdomen.
Twitter: @jm_miller