Dad stops to buy lotto tickets at Texaco gas station, returns to find his 7-year-old dead in the car

['Jerry Lambe', 'Jerry Lambe Is A Journalist At Law Crime. He Is A Graduate Of Georgetown University', 'New York Law School', 'Previously Worked In Financial Securities Compliance', 'Civil Rights Employment Law.', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar'] Law & Crime 2025-09-22 14:48:19

On Thursday, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson ordered Dante Lamar Daugherty to serve two years in a state correctional facility over the 2023 death of young Z'ayre Daugherty, authorities announced. Emergency medical personnel reached the gas station a short while later and pronounced Z'ayre dead. In an interview with detectives, Daugherty said that when he arrived at the gas station, he initially exited the vehicle with his two sons. Records show that Daugherty, in 2015, pleaded guilty to charges of battery against a family member and disorderly conduct. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of loitering for drugs and was given six months' probation.