KAYDEN BRANDON - 2 Months (12/2011) - Detroit MI

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/12/parents_of_2-month-old_charged.html

The parents of a 2-month-old Detroit-area boy face charges in his slaying and the abuse of his twin brother.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has charged 22-year Antonio Brandon with first-degree murder and child abuse. Eighteen-year-old Nicole Roberts is charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse.

Police say rescue personnel found the baby unresponsive when they arrived at the Westland Meadows trailer park earlier this week. He was declared dead at a hospital.

An autopsy found the boy died of asphyxia and blunt-force trauma to the chest.

His twin brother and a 2-year-old child were removed from the home. Worthy says the twin also suffered abuse.

Brandon and Roberts were arraigned Thursday in Westland District Court. Preliminary examinations are Dec. 15. Their bonds were set at $1 million each.

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20111211/NEWS16/112110420

The parents of a 2-month-old baby boy charged with abusing and killing him as well as abusing his surviving twin brother are scheduled for a preliminary examination Thursday in Westland 18th District Court.

Facing multiple felony charges, Inkster resident Antonio Pepalonia Brandon, 22, and Nicole Susanne Robert, 18, of Westland are each being held in lieu of $1 million cash bond. Both have entered not guilty pleas.

An autopsy found that Kayden Brandon died Monday from asphyxia and blunt force trauma to the chest. Police and Fire Rescue were called to a unit in the Westland Meadows mobile home park just before 5 a.m. about a baby not breathing. Kayden was not responsive and pronounced dead a short time later at an area hospital.

Brandon is charged with first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, and two counts of first-degree child abuse — one relating to Kaden, the other over injuries to his surviving twin Cameron Brandon.

Roberts has been charged with involuntary manslaughter/failure to perform legal duty, a 15-year felony, and two counts of felony second-degree child abuse/reckless act.

In a statement to police, Brandon indicated he would quiet the crying babies by placing his hand over their mouths for 10-20 seconds until they stopped breathing. Brandon would then bite the infant to startle them into breathing.

The autopsy showed bite marks on the baby.

Brandon told police he also struck the baby on chest in an effort to stop him from crying or would squeeze the infant tightly to his chest.

In a statement to police, Roberts told police she heard Brandon beating Kayden early Dec. 5 and looked to see him striking the baby, but didn't intervene. Roberts, who told police that she would also place her hand over the babies' mouths to get them to stop crying, said she didn't want a conflict with Brandon in hopes that he would remain involved with her and the babies.

The surviving twin, who was removed from the home along with a 2-year-old half sister, has a broken femur and ribs which police said resulted from being swung by his legs. The boy is being cared for by Wayne County Protective Services, while the girl has been returned to her mother.

A woman, apparently Roberts's mother with whom the couple and the children were staying, had to be escorted from Judge Mark McConnell's courtroom after the arraignment last Thursday when she began shouting, “I hate you now. Those were my babies.”

Grandmother had to know they were abusing these babies. IMO.

The parents of a Westland infant, who died due to abuse in December,
have been found competent to face criminal charges in their son's death.
Antonio
Brandon, 22, of Inkster is charged with first-degree murder and child
abuse. Nicole Roberts, 18, of Westland is charged with involuntary
manslaughter and child abuse.
Their two-month old son, Kayden,
died Dec. 5 of asphyxia and blunt force trauma. He was unresponsive when
paramedics arrived at the Westland Meadows mobile park where the family
was living.
Jailed in lieu of $1 million bond, Brandon and
Roberts are now scheduled for a preliminary examination before 18th
District Court Judge Mark McConnell. It will be a joint hearing and
expected to take some time with the preliminary examination set to begin
at 12:30 p.m. Friday, June 15, and continue at 1 p.m. Thursday, June
21.
The couple told police that Brandon would place his hand over
Kayden's month and nose until he stopped breathing to stop the baby from
crying. He would bite the baby's shoulder to startle him into breathing
again.
The baby had broken ribs, a bruise on his face and a bite
mark on his shoulder. Roberts is accused of being aware of the abuse and
allowing it to continue.
Kayden's twin brother Cameron was removed from the home and found to have suffered injuries including a broken femur.
http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20120520/NEWS24/205200424

Good grief. Why don't these idiots use birth control. This POS mother was only 18 and already had 3 kids. Suffocating and biting newborns to keep them quiet?? What is wrong with these people. I hope they put them away for a long time. And I do hope they investigate the grandmother carefully to make sure she's fit to keep these kids. With the abuse going on, it seems she should have recognized something was going on, unless she worked and wasn't home much. It's just hard to fathom people doing this. Take birth control or get fixed!

At the end of a lengthy hearing spread over three days, the parents
of 2 1/2 -month-old twins have been ordered to stand trial on charges of
murdering one boy and abusing both infants.
Antonio Brandon, 22,
of Inkster and Nicole Roberts, 19, of Westland are charged in the Dec. 5
death of their son Kayden, who died of asphyxiation and blunt force
trauma. Both are also charged with two counts of first-degree child
abuse for injuries suffered by each baby.
An earlier hearing
before 18th District Court Judge Mark McConnell focused on the autopsy
of Kayden. On Thursday, the focus was on the physical examination of the
surviving twin Cameron.
Defense witness Dr. Lisa Markman, an
associate professor at the University of Michigan and member of the
University of Michigan Hospital Child Protection Team, testified to
healing and recent injuries found when she examined Cameron Brandon that
indicated abuse.
Those injuries included a variety of bruises, some abrasions, a broken femur and 15 rib fractures.
“There
are very few causes of bilateral rib fractures in a child this age — a
high-speed car accident, being struck by a car or abuse,” Markman said,
adding there was no indication the baby had been involved in some type
of vehicle accident.
In her testimony, Markman also rejected
defense theories that the injuries to the baby were accidental,
resulting from something being dropped or a kick from his twin in their
crib or being hugged too aggressively.
“Force needs to be applied.
These are not injuries that would happen in an accidental way,” Markman
said. “Direct force has to be applied to the femur, in this case
pulling. It's indicative of abuse.”
Regarding the rib fractures, Markman said the injuries were caused by squeezing the infant.
“You have a baby with 15 rib fractures. There were repeated events of abuse,” she said.
Kayden
Brandon also had fractured ribs, which the defense argued were the
result of CPR improperly done by Brandon in an effort to revive him.
Markman testified those injuries weren't consistent with even badly done
CPR.
Statements made to Westland police by both defendants were read into the court record.
Both
agreed that Kayden had awakened about 4:30 a.m. and Brandon offered to
give the baby a bottle while Roberts went back to bed.
When the
babies cried, Brandon and Roberts each told police they would cover the
infants' mouth and nose. The couple told police that the babies would
stop breathing, so Brandon would bite them to startle them into taking a
breath.
In his statement, Brandon told officers that he was
finding it difficult to deal with twins and conceded that he may have
been too rough with the babies.
“I heard popping sounds when I was
squeezing them, not knowing my own strength,” Brandon wrote in his
statement. “I'm very sorry, very, very sorry. I would have taken all the
crying and nurtured them. I never thought I could do this much damage.”
In
one of her statements, Roberts described Brandon shouting “shut up” at
the babies when they cried. The morning Kayden died, Roberts said she
looked out of her bedroom and saw Brandon hit the baby three times in
the stomach area. Other times, Roberts said she heard sounds of the
babies being hit.
Defense attorney Kim Michon argued that Brandon
didn't have the intent required for first-degree child abuse and as a
result there also wasn't evidence of felony murder.
McConnell
disagreed, noting the significant and extensive injuries to both
children and the long period of time over which the babies were abused.
He ordered Brandon bound over to Wayne County Circuit Court to face
charges of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree child
abuse.
Roberts was back in court as her attorney David Cripps
unsuccessfully attempted to have her statements excluded, arguing that
Roberts was incapable of knowingly and intelligently waiving her Miranda
rights.
Following lengthy testimony from two psychologists — what
McConnell called the battle of the expert witnesses — Roberts's
statements weren't excluded.
Roberts talked to police when Kayden
was taken to the hospital and made statements after being taken into
custody. She increasingly blamed Brandon for injuries to the babies. In
one statement, Roberts indicated she hadn't intervened to avoid a
conflict with her boyfriend and maintain their family.
“‘I'm sorry for protecting Tony (Brandon). I should have protected Kayden and Cameron,” Roberts said in a police statement.
McConnell
agreed with Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Andrea Hutting's argument
that Roberts aided and abetted the abuse of her children by failing to
protect them against abuse.
“There was some physical abuse on the
day of the child's death and other (older) injuries were discovered,”
McConnell said. “There was a duty to protect the children from further
abuse. As she (Roberts) indicated in her statement, the child would
still be alive and the other receiving no more injuries if she had
acted.”
Late in the hearing Friday, Roberts sat silently crying in
the courtroom. Once the hearing ended, Roberts was taken back to the
court holding cell and could be hearing sobbing loudly in the courtroom
and nearby hallway.
http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20120624/NEWS24/206240456

I hope these two are put away for a long time. The monster mother is just as culpable as she heard the killer beating the babies and did nothing. How awful. Those poor babies suffered terribly in their short lives.

twinkletoes wrote:Grandmother had to know they were abusing these babies.  IMO.

I agree with you. Nicole was my foster sister for a few years when we were really young. So, her mom definitely has issues. Nicole was definitely in a difficult position. I feel bad for her and those kids. It's a cycle of abuse and foster care. Very heartbreaking.

brit.danielle.22 wrote:

twinkletoes wrote:Grandmother had to know they were abusing these babies.  IMO.

I agree with you. Nicole was my foster sister for a few years when we were really young. So, her mom definitely has issues. Nicole was definitely in a difficult position. I feel bad for her and those kids. It's a cycle of abuse and foster care. Very heartbreaking.

If Nicole was a foster child, it makes the abuse of this baby even more disgusting. 

Sounds like you could offer some valuable insight into a lot of these horrible cases.

I hope you do.