2-month-old Brody Speerbrecher died of traumatic head injury

[Sister Iroz]

PAOLI, Okla. (AP) - The Oklahoma medical examiner's office concludes that a 2-month-old Paoli boy died earlier this week of a traumatic head injury.

No arrests had been made on Thursday in the death of Brody Speerbrecher.

Lisa Speerbrecher called 911 on Monday morning and said her son wasn't breathing. Garvin County Undersheriff Steve Brooks says he died an hour later at a Pauls Valley hospital.

Brooks says both parents were home when Brody stopped breathing, but they told authorities they don't know what happened.

Brooks says three other children living in the home were placed in Department of Human Services custody.

He says deputies found evidence someone was dealing drugs from inside the home, as well as a small amount of marijuana.

http://www.kswo.com/global/story.asp?s=10000136

PAOLI, OK -- Garvin County investigators are questioning how a two-month-old infant suddenly died Monday. Authorities know what caused the Paoli child's death, but are still working to find out how it happened.

"It's very difficult. It's difficult for all the officers involved in the investigation," Garvin County Under sheriff Steven Brooks said.

It is unclear how 2-month-old Brody Cole Speerbrecher died from an acute subdural hematoma. Officials say it is an abnormal head injury for such a young child.

"What that means was some sort of acute, sudden traumatic injury to this child's head caused it to die," Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office Spokeswoman Cherokee Ballard said.

Now investigators are working to uncover how Brody sustained the injury. The Garvin County Sheriff's Department got a 911 call from Brody's mother who told operators Brody was unresponsive. He was then transported to the Pauls Valley General Hospital and after about forty-five minutes was pronounced dead.

"As a father all the deputies who work here are parents. We have children and any person who comes in contact with a young infant or young child you just have to look at it from a different side," Brooks said.

Investigators admit Brody's death is suspicious. Sources tell NewsChannel 4 marijuana was found inside the home and was intended to be distributed, but no arrest warrants have been made.

There were two other children inside the home that Brody's father has from a previous marriage. They were placed in DHS custody.

http://www.kswo.com/global/story.asp?s=10000136

[Marv]

Poor baby, I hope they find out what happened and that whoever is responsible gets fucking hung, drawn and quartered. Beating a defenceless baby is unforgiveable. What can a 2mth old do to defend itself, FFS.


R.I.P. little Brody. x

[Insomniac]

Fuck THAT. Charge both piece of shit parents.

Rest in peace little Brody, I'm sorry the ones who were supposed to protect and nurture you did the exact opposite.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A surprise deal has been reached in the case of a Paoli man facing a first-degree murder charge for some time in connection with the 2009 death of his infant son.

A jury trial last fall couldn’t end the case for Johnny Ray Speerbrecher, 30, but a plea agreement with state prosecutors did as he accepted a reduced charge in exchange for no more jail time.

Speerbrecher pleaded no contest to an amended charge of enabling child abuse during a hearing on Feb. 24 in a Garvin County District courtroom.

Speerbrecher’s murder charge stemmed from the death of his 2-month-old son Brody Speerbrecher on March 9, 2009, who a state medical examiner concluded died from some sort of violent head trauma likely caused by a shaking movement.

During a trial on the murder count stretching out six days last September jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous decision forcing District Judge Greg Dixon to declare a mistrial.

It was later announced the jury was hung up at a 9-3 vote count in favor of acquittal.

The plea agreement comes after Speerbrecher’s second trial scheduled for this month had already been postponed until June.
[...]

After Speerbrecher submitted his no contest plea he was handed a three-year jail term with all of it suspended. Two of those years are to include supervised probation.

While admitting no guilt in the case, Speerbrecher did state on a document related to the new plea that, “I do not contest that the state of Oklahoma could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that on March 9, 2009 in Garvin County I enabled the abuse of Brody Speerbrecher.”

http://paulsvalleydailydemocrat.com/...in-murder-case

From last Fall's trial:

Two prosecutors used their closing arguments Monday in a Garvin County District courtroom to convince jurors the evidence pointed to Speerbrecher’s guilt, while one of his defense attorneys said there were other suspects in the case not fully investigated by law enforcement.

“We ask that you search for the truth,” Assistant District Attorney George Burnett said as jurors listened intently during the late afternoon hours.

“The evidence compared to the elements of the crime prove the defendant is guilty of this atrocious crime,” he said.

“The defendant used unreasonable force on that tragic day in the life of that infant. This man killed that baby. He might not have meant to. Find him guilty.”

Defense attorney Perry Hudson of Oklahoma City focused his message on what he described as an incomplete investigation that failed to look closer at other suspects, namely the baby’s mother, Lisa Speerbrecher.

“This investigation was handicapped from the beginning. They had made up their minds 6 or 7 hours after his happened,” Hudson said, referring to his client being the lone suspect in the minds of investigators.

“It’s not the way to search for the truth,” he said. “A proper investigation was never conducted.

“If you want to hold someone to the fire for this it’s local law enforcement.”

Hudson told jurors the defense questions why Lisa Speerbrecher was not more closely targeted as a suspect in this case.

“She was a legitimate suspect. You can’t have a search for the truth if that’s how we treat legitimate suspects.”

The defense attorney also wondered why law enforcement’s investigation believed her timeline of the events leading up to the baby’s death, considering Hudson’s claim she lied to deputies about such things as her own drug consumption.

“We should trust the woman we know we can’t trust? Hudson asked.

“She’s telling us Johnny was the last person to see Brody Speerbrecher alive. How do we know that. Because we’re taking Lisa Speerbrecher at her word. Shouldn’t we have thoroughly investigated that before accepted her word,” he said.

He told jurors to look at all the evidence and decide whether or not the state has proven guilt in this case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Somebody has to pay, but it can’t be him unless it’s beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hudson said, referring to the defendant.

http://paulsvalleydailydemocrat.com/...s-in-arguments

[Tundratot]

Awwww, crap! A two month old baby was killed and there is no one accountable for that? Was there no autopsy? No pediatrician or child abuse specialist that could speak to what happened and caused his death? No guide for the police?

[Mega Ultra]

I'm happy with the sentence; even if he did not shake the baby himself, he was enabling someone (his wife) to do so by not calling police immediately after this incident happened. I just wish the mother was also charged.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Awwww, crap! A two month old baby was killed and there is no one accountable for that? Was there no autopsy? No pediatrician or child abuse specialist that could speak to what happened and caused his death? No guide for the police?

The problem lies in WHO did the damage... not what was done. She says he did, he says not him/probably her. The defense must have had some compelling evidence in the trial that THE MOM could just as likely been the killer. That's all I can figure out...

[Tundratot]

The problem lies in WHO did the damage... not what was done. She says he did, he says not him/probably her. The defense must have had some compelling evidence in the trial that THE MOM could just as likely been the killer. That's all I can figure out...

Well, knowing the hows makes it possible to find out the rest sometimes. Timelines, weapons, alibis, evidence, it all follows.