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By Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mother leaves 5 week old Infant in car with 12 y old cousin for 20 minutes
A 12-year-old boy said he dropped his infant cousin and then picked her up with one hand.
Five-week-old Millan Young's mother, Brittiany Young, testified: "I noticed Millan's mouth looked swollen, " Young said as she wiped tears from eyes. "I put the car in park and asked [the boy] 'What did you do? What did you do to her?"
Related
* DA: Boy bashed baby's head
* Photos from the trial
But detectives say that the boy did something much more severe.
The sixth grader is on trial on charges he killed 5-week-old Millan Young by bashing the baby’s head. The AJC is not naming the boy per court order.
A Cobb County Juvenile Court judge spent Wednesday night listening to a tape of the boy change his story several times about how the infant ended up brain dead and with multiple skull fractures. But just after the boy finally agreed to tell the story again during the interview, the judge stopped the tape.
The boy's mother is shown on the tape telling the boy he could not go home until he told police the truth. According to the judge, the boy was coerced into giving a statement.
"He’s scared to death. His mother is pressuring him. I can’t let that in," Judge Gregory Poole said late Wednesday after listening to almost 10 hours of testimony.
It is still unclear how the baby was injured. The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday with testimony from detectives, the medical examiner and doctors.
An autopsy showed the baby had multiple skull fractures and died from blunt force trauma, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Brittiany Young testified that she left her infant daughter alone in the car with the boy while she went into a Target store in Marietta on July 4. She returned to the car to find the baby unresponsive, she said.
In the taped interview, the boy said he tried to comfort the crying baby by giving her pacifier and a bottle. He later said the baby started choking so he took her out of the car seat. That's when he dropped her, the boy said. He also said he accidentally hit the baby in the face with his elbow when picked her up.
The boy used a doll to show his mother how he picked the baby up with one hand.
"This is an accident. He was scared. He’s 12," the boy's mother Camille Curtis told police. "It was no intentional homicide."
But moments after his mother leaves the room, the video shows the boy angrily throwing the doll against the wall.
Police said the baby's injuries do not fit with what the boy said. There is no way the baby's skull could have received multiple fractures based on his account, detectives said.
“That child's head was bashed in,” Prosecutor Eleanor Odom told the judge. “She suffered blunt force head trauma at the hands of [the boy].”
Brittiany Young, of Kennesaw, told the judge she found her daughter not breathing. The baby's lips were blue, her eyes were swollen and there was blood in her mouth, she testified. The baby and the boy were alone in the car for 18 minutes.
“I put the car in park and asked [the boy],‘What did you do? What did you do to her?’” she recalled.
The woman then grabbed her baby out of the car seat and called 911.
“She was limp at that time,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
Paramedics rushed the baby to the hospital, where she was later declared brain dead.
“After they explained that they thought her brain had collapsed and she was considered brain dead, I didn’t want to continue,” the mother testified.
The baby was removed from life support.
The boy initially told detectives he didn’t know what happened to the baby.
“I don’t want to hurt a baby,” he said in an initial interview. “Maybe she had bumped into her [mother's] stomach or had an accident,” the boy told detectives.
The boy’s attorney, Derek Wright, said it’s unclear how the baby was injured.
“This is a case where people jumped to conclusions,” Wright said Wednesday in his opening statement. “We weren’t there and don’t know what actually happened.”
Throughout Wednesday’s testimony, Wright questioned firefighters, police and paramedics about Brittiany Young’s demeanor while they were outside the Target.
“For someone who had a child in that circumstance, it was surprising,” testified paramedic Pierce Summers of Metro Atlanta Ambulance Services. “It looked like she was kind of lost in a fog. It was atypical of other parents I’ve seen in similar situations.”
The boy was pacing and crying, firefighters testified.
Throughout the trial Wednesday, the boy – dressed in a gold suit and black shirt – fidgeted in his chair and occasionally rested his head on his hand.
Curtis wiped tears as she sat behind her son Wednesday. The boy’s father, Gerado Davis, stared at the judge. Davis, who was deployed at the time of the incident, received special permission from the military to attend the trial.
The boy is from Tampa and was visiting his family at the time of the incident. He is being held at a group home in DeKalb County, where he is able to attend school. He was originally being held at the Cobb County Regional Youth Detention Center. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and cruelty to children.
On Wednesday morning, Judge Gregory Poole explained to the boy about how his trial will work and that he has the option to testify.
Poole told the boy that he is charged with “a crime that they call murder, which they call a felony. A felony is a big deal.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mother leaves 5 week old Infant in car with 12 y old cousin for 20 minutes
A 12-year-old boy said he dropped his infant cousin and then picked her up with one hand.
Five-week-old Millan Young's mother, Brittiany Young, testified: "I noticed Millan's mouth looked swollen, " Young said as she wiped tears from eyes. "I put the car in park and asked [the boy] 'What did you do? What did you do to her?"
Related
* DA: Boy bashed baby's head
* Photos from the trial
But detectives say that the boy did something much more severe.
The sixth grader is on trial on charges he killed 5-week-old Millan Young by bashing the baby’s head. The AJC is not naming the boy per court order.
A Cobb County Juvenile Court judge spent Wednesday night listening to a tape of the boy change his story several times about how the infant ended up brain dead and with multiple skull fractures. But just after the boy finally agreed to tell the story again during the interview, the judge stopped the tape.
The boy's mother is shown on the tape telling the boy he could not go home until he told police the truth. According to the judge, the boy was coerced into giving a statement.
"He’s scared to death. His mother is pressuring him. I can’t let that in," Judge Gregory Poole said late Wednesday after listening to almost 10 hours of testimony.
It is still unclear how the baby was injured. The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday with testimony from detectives, the medical examiner and doctors.
An autopsy showed the baby had multiple skull fractures and died from blunt force trauma, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday, Brittiany Young testified that she left her infant daughter alone in the car with the boy while she went into a Target store in Marietta on July 4. She returned to the car to find the baby unresponsive, she said.
In the taped interview, the boy said he tried to comfort the crying baby by giving her pacifier and a bottle. He later said the baby started choking so he took her out of the car seat. That's when he dropped her, the boy said. He also said he accidentally hit the baby in the face with his elbow when picked her up.
The boy used a doll to show his mother how he picked the baby up with one hand.
"This is an accident. He was scared. He’s 12," the boy's mother Camille Curtis told police. "It was no intentional homicide."
But moments after his mother leaves the room, the video shows the boy angrily throwing the doll against the wall.
Police said the baby's injuries do not fit with what the boy said. There is no way the baby's skull could have received multiple fractures based on his account, detectives said.
“That child's head was bashed in,” Prosecutor Eleanor Odom told the judge. “She suffered blunt force head trauma at the hands of [the boy].”
Brittiany Young, of Kennesaw, told the judge she found her daughter not breathing. The baby's lips were blue, her eyes were swollen and there was blood in her mouth, she testified. The baby and the boy were alone in the car for 18 minutes.
“I put the car in park and asked [the boy],‘What did you do? What did you do to her?’” she recalled.
The woman then grabbed her baby out of the car seat and called 911.
“She was limp at that time,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
Paramedics rushed the baby to the hospital, where she was later declared brain dead.
“After they explained that they thought her brain had collapsed and she was considered brain dead, I didn’t want to continue,” the mother testified.
The baby was removed from life support.
The boy initially told detectives he didn’t know what happened to the baby.
“I don’t want to hurt a baby,” he said in an initial interview. “Maybe she had bumped into her [mother's] stomach or had an accident,” the boy told detectives.
The boy’s attorney, Derek Wright, said it’s unclear how the baby was injured.
“This is a case where people jumped to conclusions,” Wright said Wednesday in his opening statement. “We weren’t there and don’t know what actually happened.”
Throughout Wednesday’s testimony, Wright questioned firefighters, police and paramedics about Brittiany Young’s demeanor while they were outside the Target.
“For someone who had a child in that circumstance, it was surprising,” testified paramedic Pierce Summers of Metro Atlanta Ambulance Services. “It looked like she was kind of lost in a fog. It was atypical of other parents I’ve seen in similar situations.”
The boy was pacing and crying, firefighters testified.
Throughout the trial Wednesday, the boy – dressed in a gold suit and black shirt – fidgeted in his chair and occasionally rested his head on his hand.
Curtis wiped tears as she sat behind her son Wednesday. The boy’s father, Gerado Davis, stared at the judge. Davis, who was deployed at the time of the incident, received special permission from the military to attend the trial.
The boy is from Tampa and was visiting his family at the time of the incident. He is being held at a group home in DeKalb County, where he is able to attend school. He was originally being held at the Cobb County Regional Youth Detention Center. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and cruelty to children.
On Wednesday morning, Judge Gregory Poole explained to the boy about how his trial will work and that he has the option to testify.
Poole told the boy that he is charged with “a crime that they call murder, which they call a felony. A felony is a big deal.”
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