CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
Dozens gathered Thursday afternoon to welcome home Kilah Davenport, 3, a little girl police say was severely beaten by her stepfather.
She came home in a motorcade with the Renegade Pigs NC. It's a non-profit organization made up of law enforcement officers.
"I want to make sure that nobody else goes through what I've been through, what my parents have been through and what my Kilah's been through," said her mother, Kirbi Davenport.
According to the Union County Sheriff's Office, 22-year-old Joshua Wilford Houser, the step-father of 3-year-old Kilah Davenport, beat the little girl with a blunt object in May. Kilah was rushed to the Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte with severe injuries to 90% of her brain and a fractured skull.
"I have to be calm for Kilah and I have to be strong for Kilah. I have my moments where I break down, but I can't do that and let it affect Kilah. I have to be positive," said grandmother Leslie Davenport.
Houser has been in jail on a $1 million bond, since the incident. Davenport has been in and out of hospitals for almost two months.'
"We feel as though the punishment for such a horrific crime doesn't even come close to fitting this type of horrific incident," said Jeff Gerber, founder of the Justice for All Coalition.
Gerber says Houser is only facing a maximum of 7.5 years in prison, if he is convicted of beating Kilah.
Gerber and members of Kilah's family have introduced Kilah's Law to state lawmakers. They hope the law will raise the sentencing guidelines for a debilitating injury of a child to a higher classification of a felony. They want to sentence to be raised to a mandatory 25 years to life in prison.
Once a convicted person serves their sentence, the group hopes to have them monitored for life, the same as a convicted pedophile. Kilah's grandmother, Leslie Davenport says she it will be a long recovery, but one the family is ready to undertake.
For more on Kilah Davenport, visit the family's website at http://teamkilah.wordpress.com/
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