"Infant John" BANKS - 2 yo (2009) - Pahokee (E side of Lake Okeechobee) FL

BELLE GLADE, Fla. --
A South Florida man is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of a toddler.Antion Denard Lawrence of Pahokee is accused of beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old son to death.Investigators
say the child became unresponsive Sunday after two days of vomiting.
The boy couldn't be revived at a hospital.


An autopsy showed he suffered from many injuries to his forehead, abdomen and internal organs.The
child's mother told Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies that Lawrence
beat her son for not eating, not going to sleep or not moving fast
enough.According to an arrest report, Lawrence told investigators he sometimes "tapped" the boy with a belt, but not with his fists.Jail records Friday didn't show whether Lawrence had an attorney.

PAHOKEE — A Pahokee man has been
charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 2-year-old boy just
two days after Christmas, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said
Friday.According to a sheriff's office report, 23-year-old
Antion Denard Lawrence of Pahokee so severely abused his girlfriend's
son that the toddler died from the internal injuries.Lawrence was also charged with aggravated child abuse,.Investigators
say the boy, who wasn't named in police reports, was unresponsive on
Dec. 27 following several days of vomiting. He was taken to Lakeside
Medical Center in Belle Glade, but couldn't be revived.The
incident is the second time in a matter of days in which a child
allegedly was beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend. Carlos Rivera
Jr., 19, of Boca Raton man was arrested Wednesday on charges of
first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the death of a boy a
day before the child's first birthday.Much like that case,
Lawrence told deputies he hadn't beaten the child. He admitted to using
his belt on him from time to time, but never his fists, according to
the sheriff's report.But autopsy results and interviews with
several family members, including the boy's 6-year-old brother, told
investigators a different story.The autopsy showed serious
injuries throughout his small body. He had lacerations to his liver,
sternum and small intestine. His adrenal gland, located near the
kidneys, had hemorrhaged. Deep bruising on his neck indicated that he
had been strangled. Bruises were found on his forehead, abdomen and
back, and the report said there were injuries to his genitals.The boy also had several other injuries in various stages of healing.His
mother, Crystal Banks, initially told deputies that she had no idea how
her son received the injuries that caused his death. Later, she told
them Lawrence hit the child with a belt at least every week for a
variety of reasons. She denied seeing him use anything other than a
belt.Banks said Lawrence hit the toddler for not eating, not
going to sleep, even for not moving fast enough. She said she thought
Lawrence focused on the child because he often was underfoot and
needing his mother's attention.The child's grandparents told
investigators that the boy never had any injuries before Lawrence moved
in with Banks. They said there were never reasonable explanations for
the injuries, according to the report.Banks left her son with
Lawrence for an hour the day after Christmas. Her other son told
deputies that Lawrence locked the front door, but he heard his brother
screaming and crying inside. Lawrence, he said, shouted at the child to
sit down, and threatened to choke and punch him, according to the
report.He later saw welts on his brother's body, according to the police report. That night, the toddler began vomiting. The next day he was dead.

EventDate/TimeRoomLocationJudge/Commissioner

STATUS CHECK	03-JUN-2011 08:30 AM	MAIN BRANCH	COURTROOM 11F	COLBATH, JUDGE JEFFREY

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