NJ Man Blames Girlfriend For Causing Baby’s Death

A New Jersey man on trial for throwing his 3-month-old daughter off a highway bridge writes in a letter that it was his girlfriend's fault.

Prosecutors read the letter to jurors Friday in the trial of Shamsidden Abdur-Raheem.

It was written to Venetta Benjamin, mother of Zara Malani-Lin Abdur-Raheem.

In it, Abdur-Raheem tells Benjamin to examine "how your lies led up to all of this." He blames Benjamin for cheating on him with another man.

Prosecutors claim Abdur-Raheem abducted the infant from her grandmother's East Orange apartment, assaulting the woman and hitting her with his van. They say he then parked on the Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State Parkway and threw or dropped the baby into the Raritan River.

His trial is to resume Tuesday.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)