SBS: Illinois: Ibrahim Kibayasi sentenced

Ibrahim Kibayasi (Police photo)

By George Houde

 July 18, 2011

Convicted of killing his five-month-old son in a fit of anger nearly two years ago, a 31-year-old Mount Prospect man was today sentenced to 35 years in prison by a Cook County judge.
Ibrahim Kibayasi told Judge Hyman Riebman that he accepted full responsibility for the death of Dylan Kibayasi, who died from shaken baby syndrome in September, 2009.
"What happened was terrible," Kibayasi said in court. "I am without my son. I miss him."
Kibayasi was convicted of first-degree murder in an April bench trial before Riebman in Rolling Meadows branch court. At Monday's hearing, Riebman said Kibayasi was an angry man frustrated over an unsuccessful job search.
"The employment difficulties prompted his anger," said Riebman. "It was taken out on Dylan."
Prosecutors said Kibayasi was watching the child that day while the boy's mother was at work. Kibayasi became angry at the child and began shaking him, prosecutors said. When Kibayasi picked up the mother from work, she called 911 after she noticed the baby was unresponsive.
An autopsy showed the baby had suffered rib injuries several weeks earlier at the hands of Kibayasi, prosecutors said.
The boy's mother and Kibayasi are from Tanzania. She has been deported for overstaying a student visa, authorities said. Kibayasi has been in the U.S. since 2002 when he also arrived on a student visa, authorities said.
 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-35-years-for-man-who-killed-his-5monthold-son-20110718,0,318929.story

SBS: Illinois: Ian Watkins may be released

By ANDY KRAVETZ  Jun 10, 2011

A South Peoria man was convicted Thursday of killing his former girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter but will likely be released from custody soon.

That's because Ian Watkins, 31, has spent more than nine years behind bars for the Dec. 2, 2009, death of Kei-Anna Monroe. His initial 2003 first-degree murder conviction and 47-year prison sentence were later reversed, and a 2006 jury couldn't reach a verdict.
Now, his conviction for involuntary manslaughter appears to carries a maximum of five years in prison, which means Watkins will not likely have to serve any more time in prison.
Peoria County Circuit Judge Steve Kouri set a hearing for Monday, when he will decide if Watkins will be free on bond pending his Aug. 25 sentencing.
The three-day trial was emotional for all sides. At one point during the closing arguments Thursday, Watkins began to sob as his attorney, Kevin Lowe, told jurors about his client's low intelligence and mental health problems. Before that, another man became so emotional as prosecutors listed the girl's numerous injuries, he was told to leave the room.
As the verdict was read, family members of Watkins sat quietly, but like Watkins, they looked relieved. Across the aisle, relatives of Kei-Anna looked stunned. That turned to anger and grief as they left the building. One stood outside the building and cried, "It's not fair. He killed her and he goes free."
Prosecutors Jodi Hoos and Nancy Mermelstein said Watkins was baby-sitting Kei-Anna and her two brothers on Dec. 1, 2009, at his South Peoria apartment. The little girl's grandmother, who had custody of Kei-Anna, came over to pick her up and found her nonresponsive.
She was rushed to the hospital and placed in intensive care, but the damage was too severe, and she was taken off life support the next day.
Hoos pointed to testimony of several doctors who labeled the injuries as shaken baby syndrome and not accidental. She urged jurors to reject the manslaughter charge, saying the notion Watkins was merely reckless was implausible. She also disputed a claim by Watkins that he tried to dislodge a hot dog from the girl's throat.
"How is it that she is choking on a hot dog and her DNA is not found on the hot dog (piece)?" she said. "I submit that is impossible."
But Lowe countered that later tests were inconclusive and couldn't rule out the possibility the little girl's DNA was on the hot dog.
He also said Watkins' accounts of what happened changed not because he was guilty of murder, as prosecutors said, but because his client couldn't properly explain himself to detectives.
Lowe stressed that his client's low intelligence and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder played a role. He ended his closing argument with a statement Watkins made to police.
"I panicked; I didn't know what to do. I was doing the best that I could."
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1125485933/Man-convicted-in-childs-death-might-go-free

SBS: Illinois: Vincent Jorge Phillips Accused of Shaking 6-Month-Old Baby

 07 Jan 2011

PEORIA - A 23-year-old Peoria man is behind bars, accused of shaking his baby so hard she ended up in the hospital. And he's admitted he's done it before.

Vincente Jorge Phillips has been charged with child abuse, after allegedly shaking his 6-month-old daughter.
In late November, police were called when the child was admitted to the hospital with severe retinal hemorrhaging in the eyes and chronic and acute subdural bleeds in the brain.
At the time, Phillips told hospital staff this was the 4th or 5th time his daughter lost consciousness in the last few months. It only happened when his wife was at work.
The baby had been hospitalized several times, with symptoms consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Hospital staff diagnosed the child with non-accidental trauma from shaking.
During an interview at the hospital, Phillips allegedly admitted he would shake the baby forcefully, using excessive force, when he was "frustrated" -- and that it happened multiple times.
Phillips and his wife are in the middle of a divorce and she has a restraining order against him. According to court records, he is seeking sole custody.
She told detectives she saw Phillips shake the baby when she was just 2 weeks old.
Doctors say if the baby had not been hospitalized, she would have died.
The baby will grow up to have at least some developmental damage, possible loss of vision, and will require extensive followup treatment to determine the long-term effects of abuse.

 

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/father-accused-of-shaking-baby-1-7-2011

SBS: Pickett, Decatur, Illinois

DECATUR - Savannah Pickett, the 17-year-old mother of Amarrius Rice, the 5-month old boy who died from blunt force to his head and torso last month, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder at her preliminary hearing.
During the hearing Wednesday morning in the courtroom of Associate Judge James Coryell, details emerged about the circumstances surrounding the death of the infant.
Pickett, who has been held in the Macon County Jail on $500,000 bond since her arrest Sept. 28, sat at the defense table with public defender Greg Mattingley.
Decatur police detective Brad Allen testified that an aunt of Pickett's had custody of the baby during the last 30 hours of his life.
Amarrius suffered injuries, including a fractured skull, lacerated liver and bleeding along his spinal cord, during the night of Sept. 15 and morning of Sept. 16. He was pronounced dead at Decatur Memorial Hospital at 3:24 a.m. Sept. 18.
The aunt or her boyfriend called 911 on Sept. 18, when they thought something was wrong with the way the baby was breathing.
Allen testified that Pickett said she was alone with the baby when he was injured. She claimed the injuries were accidental.
She claimed the multiple skull fractures resulted from dropping him on the floor. At the time of the incident, Pickett and her son were at a home in the 1300 block of East Condit Street, which she listed as her residence on a court form.
The detective said Pickett initially denied that she had struck the child but later acknowledged she dropped him on the floor, shook him and punched him.
Pickett told police she struck him five to seven times in the stomach in a playful manner, but three of the times she probably struck him too hard, Allen testified.
Under cross-examination, Mattingley asked Allen if officers had asked Pickett if she knew the consequences of shaking a child.
"She indicated she knows you're not supposed to shake a child," Allen said, adding that Pickett said she had previously shaken Amarrius.
According to the autopsy report, the bleeding along the spinal column resulted from the baby being violently shaken.
When the judge asked Pickett, who sat silently through the hearing, whether she understood that she must appear in court in the future, she nodded. Coryell then asked her to reply out loud. In a voice just above a whisper, she said, "Yes."
Pickett, who was assigned an assistant public defender, is scheduled to appear in circuit court for a pretrial hearing Nov. 17.
http://www.herald-review.com/news/local/article_1ea5599d-27e2-5b68-a344-7d3454d85d2c.html