Judge returns pacifier to dad acquitted in infant’s death
A McKeesport teen accused — but acquitted — of killing his 4-month-old son will get the baby’s pacifier back over the objections of both the mother and prosecutors.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, which had contended that the pacifier played a key role in the asphyxiation death of Isaiah Brooks-Leonard last year, went to court to block De-John Johnson’s efforts to have it returned to him.
In making his ruling Tuesday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani said that he did not believe the prosecution had the right to take such action.
“You’re asserting a claim I believe you do not have the authority to do,” Judge Mariani told Deputy District Attorney Jennifer DiGiovanni. “He’s entitled to the return of the property.”
Mr. Johnson, who arrived at the courtroom after the hearing concluded, said afterward that he wanted the pacifier “because it’s mine. It’s my son’s. This is just all amusing.”
“That’s the binky he had when he passed way,” Mr. Johnson said. “Of course I want it.”
Judge Mariani did not give the baby’s mother, Iman Brooks-Leonard, the opportunity to address the court, although she appeared in person to contest the return of the pacifier.
“I feel like this judge doesn’t care enough,” Ms. Brooks-Leonard said after the hearing. “He’s not seeing both sides of the story.”
When asked about Ms. Brooks-Leonard’s claim for the pacifier, Mr. Johnson said, “I don’t really care. I want my stuff back.”
Mr. Johnson was accused of killing Isaiah, who died on Feb. 6, 2017.
According to the medical examiner’s office, Isaiah had hemorrhaging beneath his scalp from blunt force trauma, bruises on his right cheek and a torn frenulum, the tissue inside the mouth that connects the upper lip and gums.
Ms. DiGiovanni sought a first-degree murder conviction, arguing that Mr. Johnson shoved the pacifier into the baby’s mouth and then pushed his head hard against a wall next to his bed where the two were lying.
Lisa Middleman, Mr. Johnson’s attorney, said Isaiah’s death was accidental from her client rolling over on him.
Following a bench trial in late September, Judge Mariani found Mr. Johnson not guilty of either first-degree murder or involuntary manslaughter.
Five days later, Ms. Middleman filed a motion for a return of property seeking a cellphone and the pacifier, both of which were seized by police when her client was arrested.
At a Nov. 5 hearing, Ms. DiGiovanni argued against the return, telling the judge that the pacifier belonged to Isaiah’s mother, and that she was the one who provided all of the child’s belongings when he went to stay at Mr. Johnson’s home that day.
It was the third time the baby had visited the house where Mr. Johnson, 18, lived with his mother. Ms. BrooksLeonard testified at trial that Mr. Johnson did not want her to have the child and that he had asked her to terminate the pregnancy.
Ms. DiGiovanni further argued that, under the law, Mr. Johnson had to prove ownership of the pacifier, which, she said, he could not do.
Ms. Brooks-Leonard, though, could, the prosecutor continued, because she had bought the pacifiers as a two-pack and still had the other one at home.
Ms. DiGiovanni said Ms. Brooks-Leonard, who did not attend the first hearing, did not want the pacifier back, but that she didn’t want Mr. Johnson to have it, either.
However, after that hearing was continued, Ms. Brooks-Leonard contacted the lead detective on the case, telling her she wanted to come to the next one.
She appeared at Tuesday’s hearing prepared to tell the judge why she wanted the pacifier back, but Judge Mariani would not allow her to testify.
Instead, he told Ms. DiGiovanni that she can’t represent a claim on behalf of Ms. Brooks-Leonard.
“You don’t represent her,” the judge said. “That’s not the commonwealth’s issue to litigate on behalf of a private person.”
Ms. DiGiovanni countered that it is the prosecution’s responsibility to ensure property is not returned to the wrong party.
Ms. Middleman said it is not the wrong party.
“It should be returned to the individual from whom it was taken,” she said.
Ms. Brooks-Leonard, 19, is now working at a day care and in school.
“I feel like I failed as a mother because I was supposed to represent my son and get justice for him, and I’ll never get justice from that judge,” Ms. Brooks-Leonard said after the hearing. “The judge really didn’t try to hear me out at all.”
Ms. Brooks-Leonard continues to question why Mr. Johnson wants the pacifier in the first place.
“You’re coming back for a pacifier to prove what point? He’s getting giggles and laughs about it,” she said. “My son’s gone.
“Why do you want the pacifier when you didn’t even want my son when he was alive?”