The North Carolina Court of Appeals disagreed with 38-year-old Todd Louis Lanford's argument that the trial court should have dismissed the case against him for insufficient evidence.
In 2008, investigators said Lanford threatened, beat, and attempted to cut the penis off of an 11-year old Stedman boy. The boy suffered bruises all over his body and was cut along the pelvic area.
At the time of the incident, Lanford was the live-in boyfriend of the boy's mother, Tonia Michelle Powers, who was charged with aiding and abetting a felony and accessory after the fact.
Lanford was found guilty in August 2011 of one count of attempted malicious castration of a privy member, four counts of felony child abuse, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, one count of first degree statutory sex offense, one count of indecent liberties with a child, one count of assault by strangulation, and one count of misdemeanor communicating threats.
He was sentenced to 33 to 44 years in prison.
In January 2011, Lanford walked out of a plea bargain proceeding in a Cumberland County courtroom and did not return despite a judge's order to appear and being out of jail on a $35,000 bond.
Authorities later arrested Lanford at a Days Inn on Highway 701 in Clinton.
The Court of Appeals denied Lanford's motion to dismiss all charges against him, because they found that there was sufficient evidence presented during his trial that proved he was the perpetrator, according to court documents.
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