McKeesport father acquitted by judge in death of infant
Reiterating that the standard for criminal conviction is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, a judge on Wednesday found a McKeesport teenager not guilty of killing his 4-month-old son.
De-John Johnson, 18, was charged with homicide following the asphyxiation death of his son, Isaiah Brooks-Leonard, who died early Feb. 6, 2017.
The prosecution alleged that Mr. Johnson, who put the infant to bed with him the night of Feb. 5, put a pacifier in Isaiah’s mouth, pressed his hand over it and pushed the baby’s head against his bedroom wall, smothering the child.
“That mechanism is all that explains all of the injuries,” said Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni.
An autopsy showed that the infant had hemorrhaging beneath his scalp caused by blunt force trauma, bruising on his right cheek and a torn frenulum — the tissue inside the mouth that connects the upper lip and gums.
Ms. DiGiovanni told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani that she believed the defendant could be found guilty of first-degree, or premeditated, murder; third-degree murder, which is a killing with malice; or involuntary manslaughter, which requires
recklessness or gross negligence.
Defense attorney Lisa Middleman argued that she believed Isaiah died accidentally from Mr. Johnson rolling over on him during the night.
“The prosecution has not proved this was anything other than a terrible, tragic accident,” Ms. Middleman said.
Following closing arguments Wednesday afternoon, Judge Mariani immediately said that Mr. Johnson was not guilty.
Mr. Johnson’s trial began last week and included testimony from the emergency medical staff who treated Isaiah the morning he died, as well as officers involved in the case.
The last prosecution witness called was the forensic pathologist who performed Isaiah’s autopsy.
Abdulrezak Shakir ruled that the infant’s cause of death was asphyxiation and the manner of death was homicide. The injuries to Isaiah’s mouth and head, he said, were caused by blunt force trauma, and suffocation of the child would have taken no more than three minutes.
On cross-examination, Dr. Shakir said it was unlikely to find those types of injuries in a case of “accidental overlay,” in which a parent rolls over and smothers a child.
On Wednesday, the defense called its own expert witness, Eric Vey, a forensic pathologist based in Erie, who said that although he did not find Isaiah’s injuries to be consistent with an accidental overlay, he also could not rule it out.
Dr. Vey testified that he would have ruled Isaiah’s manner of death as undetermined and not homicide, even though he agreed that the death occurred as a “result of an interplay between the infant and another individual.”
“I think the child was asphyxiated,” he said, though he could not say how.
Dr. Vey could not explain the various injuries reported by Dr. Shakir but said the child’s torn frenulum raised suspicion.
“It’s clearly representative of force being applied, and the force is sufficient to tear that delicate membrane,” he said. “That’s a suspicious finding — kind of a red flag. You’re on high alert.”
But he said that such an injury can occur accidentally.
Throughout the trial, the defense recounted an incident it said occurred the day before Isaiah died in which Mr. Johnson’s younger brother had been holding the baby and tripped with him.
Davion Belton, who is now 10, testified Wednesday that when he tripped, he caught the baby “like a football,” but that Isaiah hit the arm of the couch and cried. The defense argued that incident could have caused the torn frenulum.
During closing arguments, Ms. Middleman discounted the prosecution’s theory, presented early in the case, that Mr. Johnson had a motive to kill Isaiah.
Isaiah’s mother, Iman Brooks-Leonard, testified that when Mr. Johnson learned she was pregnant, he told her to get an abortion.
However, a few months after the baby was born, and paternity was established, Mr. Johnson’s mother reached out to Ms. BrooksLeonard to develop a relationship with the child, she said. Ms. Middleman described her client as “clearly involved, interested and concerned.”
Although Ms. Middleman acknowledged how dangerous it was for her client to go to sleep with an infant in his bed, she argued to Judge Mariani that there was no way a 16-year-old boy would have known the risk that posed.
The judge agreed — to a point.
“It is hard for me to understand how one would not have known he’s taking a risk of putting an infant in his bed and sleeping with him,” Judge Mariani said. “It is hard for me to understand how someone could not appreciate that risk.”
But he continued, Mr. Johnson looked to his mother for advice in caring for the child, and she did not dissuade him. Because of that, Judge Mariani said, he could not find Mr. Johnson guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
“I just can’t go there when an adult he looked to for guidance … did not take any action,” he said. “I do not find the evidence in this case to rise to the level of criminal conduct.”