Brown, Dante’s grandmother, described her grandson as a “sensitive” third-grader who loved baseball and “didn’t play with kids that were rough.”
Chaney was arraigned on charges of murder and attempted murder during a hearing Sept. 15. Prosecutors also added a new charge, alleging that he had sexually violated one of the children, according to the Sacramento Bee.
It was not immediately clear whether Chaney has an attorney in the case.
Salone, her mother and other family members called out “coward” and “he killed my grandson,” when Chaney entered the courtroom on Sept. 15, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Their anger quickly turned to sobbing, and Salone was escorted from the courtroom supported by her family.
Chaney’s prior felony convictions — from a first degree burglary and battery with serious bodily injury in 2014 — make him eligible for a three-strikes life sentence, according to criminal complaint filed by the Sacramento County district attorney’s office.
The 23-year-old pleaded no contest to a charge of failing to register as a sex offender in October 2016. As a juvenile, he was charged with second-degree robbery in 2007; rape and forced oral copulation in 2007; forced oral copulation in 2008; and lewd acts with a dependent adult as a caretaker in 2009, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Chaney’s next hearing is on Oct. 27. No trial date has been set, according to a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
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