lucky
May 15th, 2009, 02:48 PM
Hope this hasn't been posted, a search turned up nothing...
BUTLER, Pa. -- A Butler County jury returned a third-degree murder verdict against a man accused of killing his girlfriend's 13-month-old son, which means he will avoid the death penalty that prosecutors were seeking.
Jarred Knight, 24, was found guilty Thursday in the June 2007 death of Tyler Davis, whom he was baby-sitting in Marion Township. Prosecutors said Knight had been angry over learning he wasn't the boy's father.
"There's no verdict in the world that's going to bring my baby back," said Davis' mother, Jessica. "We're just pleased with what the district attorney has done, and there's some sense of closure now."
In addition to murder, Knight was found guilty of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
"In my heart, I know the jury got it wrong," said Knight's father, William. "My son's not guilty of murder."
The maximum penalty for a third-degree murder conviction is 20 to 40 years in a state prison. A date for Jarred Knight's sentencign was not immediately announced.
"My guess is, they're thinking we didn't prove he premeditated killing this child when he did so," District Attorney Richard Goldinger said after the jury's verdict was announced.
Tyler Davis was in Jarred Knight's care when he suffered head injures. Jarred Knight testified that the boy fell and hit his head while he was getting him ready for a bath, but state police said they believe it was Knight who slammed the toddler into a wall with so much force that he died of blunt force trauma.
During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors said that the boy's injuries were caused by a bat or a pipe, not a hit to a two-by-four as if he fell and hit the wall.
On Wednesday, Knight took the stand in his own defense, saying that the state troopers who questioned him "didn't even want to hear my side of the story."
In Jarred Knight's testimony at the county courthouse, he said he ran outside screaming for help from a neighbor when the boy fell out of his arm as he was preparing the child for a bath.
"He was yelling, 'Oh, God, help me. Somebody please help me.' He was yelling and crying, beside himself," neighbor Steve Cozad testified.
On Monday, prosecutors displayed pictures of an indentation in a bathroom wall that they said was the exact size and shape of Tyler Davis' head.
The court also heard a tape of a 911 call placed from a neighbor's house after Jarred Knight carried the boy there. In the call, the child can be heard gasping in the background as Jarred Knight says, "Breathe, breathe. Please breathe. Oh Tyler, breathe."
Jessica Davis said she suspected Jarred Knight had been abusing her son. She testified about a change in the boy's behavior, saying, "Tyler would latch onto me, even made marks on my neck, kick, cry, scream. It would seem that he didn't want to go with him."
Defense attorney Mike DeRiso said Jarred Knight had known for weeks that he wasn't the boy's father and that the death was an accident.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/cnn-news/19462547/detail.html
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/2009/0511/19432234_240X180.jpg
BUTLER, Pa. -- A Butler County jury returned a third-degree murder verdict against a man accused of killing his girlfriend's 13-month-old son, which means he will avoid the death penalty that prosecutors were seeking.
Jarred Knight, 24, was found guilty Thursday in the June 2007 death of Tyler Davis, whom he was baby-sitting in Marion Township. Prosecutors said Knight had been angry over learning he wasn't the boy's father.
"There's no verdict in the world that's going to bring my baby back," said Davis' mother, Jessica. "We're just pleased with what the district attorney has done, and there's some sense of closure now."
In addition to murder, Knight was found guilty of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
"In my heart, I know the jury got it wrong," said Knight's father, William. "My son's not guilty of murder."
The maximum penalty for a third-degree murder conviction is 20 to 40 years in a state prison. A date for Jarred Knight's sentencign was not immediately announced.
"My guess is, they're thinking we didn't prove he premeditated killing this child when he did so," District Attorney Richard Goldinger said after the jury's verdict was announced.
Tyler Davis was in Jarred Knight's care when he suffered head injures. Jarred Knight testified that the boy fell and hit his head while he was getting him ready for a bath, but state police said they believe it was Knight who slammed the toddler into a wall with so much force that he died of blunt force trauma.
During closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutors said that the boy's injuries were caused by a bat or a pipe, not a hit to a two-by-four as if he fell and hit the wall.
On Wednesday, Knight took the stand in his own defense, saying that the state troopers who questioned him "didn't even want to hear my side of the story."
In Jarred Knight's testimony at the county courthouse, he said he ran outside screaming for help from a neighbor when the boy fell out of his arm as he was preparing the child for a bath.
"He was yelling, 'Oh, God, help me. Somebody please help me.' He was yelling and crying, beside himself," neighbor Steve Cozad testified.
On Monday, prosecutors displayed pictures of an indentation in a bathroom wall that they said was the exact size and shape of Tyler Davis' head.
The court also heard a tape of a 911 call placed from a neighbor's house after Jarred Knight carried the boy there. In the call, the child can be heard gasping in the background as Jarred Knight says, "Breathe, breathe. Please breathe. Oh Tyler, breathe."
Jessica Davis said she suspected Jarred Knight had been abusing her son. She testified about a change in the boy's behavior, saying, "Tyler would latch onto me, even made marks on my neck, kick, cry, scream. It would seem that he didn't want to go with him."
Defense attorney Mike DeRiso said Jarred Knight had known for weeks that he wasn't the boy's father and that the death was an accident.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/cnn-news/19462547/detail.html
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/2009/0511/19432234_240X180.jpg