Ellicott City Blogger's Daughter to Be Tried as Adult in His Murder

“I love to see people die. It makes me happy.”

Morgan Lane Arnold wrote those words in her journal on April 26, 2013, exactly two weeks before police said she and her boyfriend conspired to kill her father, Howard County real estate agent and blogger Dennis Lane, in his Ellicott City home.

Judge William Tucker read an excerpt from the journal before ruling that Arnold, who was 14 and 10 months old at the time of the stabbing death of her father, would be tried as an adult on first-degree murder charges in Howard County Circuit Court.

Given the lack of guarantee that Arnold could be treated in the juvenile system, her complex mental health issues, the severity of the crime and her wish to harm others, Tucker ruled that she would be tried as an adult.

“This is a murder,” Tucker said. “This is the most serious offense someone can commit.” He prefaced his ruling by explaining that the juvenile court was for treatment and rehabilitation.

By law, Tucker said his decision on which court would be most appropriate was to be based on five factors—the juvenile’s mental and physical well-being, amenability to treatment, nature of the crime, public safety and age.

During three days of hearings, various individuals—doctors, Lane’s fiancée, a teacher, Arnold’s mother and others—testified, with approximately 90 percent of the testimony concerning Arnold’s mental and physical health, Tucker said.

In a court-commissioned study of Arnold’s mental health, five experts gave five different diagnoses, from Asperger’s to ADHD to depression. “She has significant, complex mental health issues,” Tucker said, adding: “I would even say disturbing” mental health issues.

In the journal entry, Arnold wrote that she envisioned her loved ones as mutilated, dead and alive. “It pleases me to see people die,” she said.

Whether she could be rehabilitated was unclear, Tucker said. Some doctors said Arnold would need at least three to five years of treatment and may not get better because she did not have remorse.

Given the length of treatment and the complexity of placement—she may not qualify for treatment in the juvenile system due to the severity of the crime and her lack of remorse—“there is no guarantee that she will be treated or rehabilitated in juvenile court,” Tucker said.

While Tucker allowed Arnold to have toys and books in the courtroom because he was told she had anxiety and needed them for comfort, “it appears she has been totally disinterested in these proceedings,” he said, as Arnold fixed her gaze on the books in front of her and didn’t look up but a handful of times, including once to smile at her mother. On Monday, she stared at a comic book.

The nature of the crime was “most serious,” Tucker said, and public safety was in jeopardy.

“She already expressed her displeasure” that Lane’s fiancée, Denise Geiger, survived the murder, Tucker said. In a recording from the Howard County Detention Center, Arnold told her mother that she wished Geiger had been killed as well. Tucker said Geiger was “still at risk,” and she was not the only one.

In her journal, Arnold wrote that she hated her father because he yelled at her and “I feel like I’m ... his pet.”

Asked Tucker: “Who’s to say that Miss Arnold will not get upset with someone else” and instruct her boyfriend to kill that person? “She clearly poses a risk to public safety.”

Her boyfriend, Jason Bulmer, 21, was sentenced to 30 years in jail last month for Lane’s death.

For the past several months, Arnold has been held at Waxter Children’s Center. Tucker said she would be transferred to the Howard County Detention Center without bond before her trial. Arnold is slated to appear for trial Aug. 18.

Photo Credit: Howard County Police Department