Trial continues for teen accused of killing his son

The mother of a 4-month-old boy who died last year testified Monday that the child’s father wanted her to terminate the pregnancy.

De-John Johnson, 18, of McKeesport, is charged with homicide in the death of his son, Isaiah Brooks-Leonard, who died early Feb. 6, 2017. The nonjury trial, before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani, began last week.

The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office determined that the infant’s cause of death was asphyxiation. Investigators and emergency medical workers who saw the baby after Mr. Johnson said he stopped breathing said there were abrasions on the child’s lip and near his nose and a bruise on his right cheek.

He also had a tear on the inside of his upper lip where it connected to his gums.

Shortly after Iman Brooks-Leonard, now 19, learned she was pregnant, she testified Monday, Mr. Johnson flashed cash at her and said he would “pay for her Plan B.”

That meant, she continued, “that he didn’t want the baby. He told me to drink alcohol. He told me he didn’t want it and to get an abortion.”

Ms. Brooks-Leonard said that after Isaiah was born in September 2016, she sent Mr. Johnson a picture but didn’t have any contact with him. Then, in December 2016, she filed a petition seeking child support.

After Mr. Johnson took a

paternity test that confirmed he was the father, Ms. Brooks-Leonard said, Mr. Johnson’s mother, Teonita Askew, contacted her to establish visits with the baby.

The weekend of Feb. 6, 2017, was the third visit Isaiah had with Mr. Johnson and his mother, Ms. Brooks-Leonard said.

When she gave Isaiah to Ms. Askew that weekend, Ms. Brooks-Leonard testified that the baby did not have any bruises on his face or abrasions around his nose or lip.

On Monday afternoon, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni played the recording of Mr. Johnson’s interview with homicide detectives taken shortly after Isaiah was pronounced dead at 4:33 a.m.

Early on in the session, Ms. Askew, who was with her son during the interview, told detectives that her son was not interested in being a father, but as time progressed, his attitude changed.

“He’s trying to be a man,” she said. “He’s trying to step up.”

Ms. Askew said she told her son that he could still follow his dreams and graduate from high school — that he’d just have a son at his side to do it.

“God gave us this blessing,” she said.

When asked what happened to Isaiah, Mr. Johnson told detectives that he put the infant in bed with him that night, and when he woke up around midnight, the baby was fine. But when he woke up at 3:09 a.m., “He wasn’t breathing. I didn’t hear no breathing. I didn’t hear nothing,” Mr. Johnson told detectives.

Mr. Johnson said he rushed from his thirdfloor bedroom to his mother, who called 911 and did CPR.

After Mr. Johnson told detectives what happened that night, Detective Laurie McKeel said she believed someone had hurt the baby.

“It appears somebody put their hand down on his face,” she said. She then talked about parents becoming frustrated with crying infants.

“Is it possible you held the pacifier there?” she asked him. “There’s been pressure applied to this baby’s face.”

“There’s nothing I did to this baby, I swear to God,” Mr. Johnson replied.

A short time later, Ms. Askew ended the interview.

The prosecution’s case is expected to conclude Tuesday.