BRAYDEN ELIZAH McVEIGH - 14 Months (2009)/ Convicted: Father; Matthew McVeigh - Ford Island HI

Abused tot's grandmother sues state over boy's death

01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 19, 2011

A 14-month-old boy who died from child abuse in military housing on Ford Island was hospitalized the day before due to injury,       according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in state court.

One month before his death, the state Department of Human Serv­ices received an emergency report on its abuse hot line of       severe and ongoing abuse of the boy, the lawsuit says.

Brayden Elizah McVeigh died Sept. 18, 2009. The Hono­lulu medical examiner said McVeigh died from brain injury caused by "abusive head trauma."

The boy's father, Matthew McVeigh, 26, is awaiting Navy court-martial proceedings for allegedly causing his son's injuries       and death. He was a Navy diver assigned to Pearl Harbor at the time. The Navy has since reassigned McVeigh to other duties.

Brayden's maternal grandmother is suing the state and the boy's father for allegedly causing the boy's death.

Terri Polm said the Human Serv­ices Department should not have returned Braden and his older sister to their parents; its       Child Welfare Serv­ices Branch had taken custody of the children when Brayden suffered a broken arm and other injuries at       the age of 5
weeks. She also claims the state did not adequately monitor the children's care after it returned the children       to their parents and failed to investigate the emergency report or the cause of Brayden's hospitalization.

Polm, who lives in Texas, is also fighting for custody of Brayden's now 4-year-old sister, who is in foster care in Hawaii.




A 14-month-old boy who died from child abuse in military housing on Ford Island was hospitalized the day before due to injury,       according to a lawsuit filed yesterday in state court.

One month before his death, the state Department of Human Serv­ices received an emergency report on its abuse hot line of severe and ongoing abuse of the boy, the lawsuit says.

Brayden Elizah McVeigh died Sept. 18, 2009. The Hono­lulu medical examiner said McVeigh died from brain injury caused by "abusive       head trauma."

The boy's father, Matthew McVeigh, 26, is awaiting Navy court-martial proceedings for allegedly causing his son's injuries and death. He was a Navy diver assigned to Pearl Harbor at the time. The Navy has since reassigned McVeigh to other duties.

Brayden's maternal grandmother is suing the state and the boy's father for allegedly causing the boy's death.

Terri Polm said the Human Serv­ices Department should not have returned Braden and his older sister to their parents; its       Child Welfare Serv­ices Branch had taken custody of the children when Brayden suffered a broken arm and other injuries at       the age of 5 weeks. She also claims the state did not adequately monitor the children's care after it returned the children       to their parents and failed to investigate the emergency report or the cause of Brayden's hospitalization.

Polm, who lives in Texas, is also fighting for custody of Brayden's now 4-year-old sister, who is in foster care in Hawaii.

twinkletoe wrote:I hope she isn't being abused in foster care, as so many are.

But in a disturbing new development, the Honolulu foster mother appointed to care for his sister Brodi, now 4, was investigated for possible abuse of the girl, according to a state Department of Human Services report obtained by the Star-Advertiser.

The foster mother was arrested after admitting that she hit Brodi and the girl was found to have a bloody lip, according to the Feb. 24 DHS report.

Brodi also had other injuries, including swollen fingertips, bruising of her palm, a swollen left hand, a thumb-size bruise on her cheek, a bump on her forehead and a jaw-line bruise, the report states.

The report said the Honolulu Police Department responded on Feb. 19 to the home of the DHS-licensed caretakers for Brodi.

The foster father, who also is in the Navy, was notified in San Diego and immediately flew back to Honolulu, officials said.

Brodi was placed in a “non-relative resource home” on Oahu and “appears to not be thriving due to the circumstances that led to her recent injuries,” the DHS report states.

http://www.dmzhawaii.org/?tag=matthew-mcveigh

plaidlined wrote:

twinkletoe wrote:I hope she isn't being abused in foster care, as so many are.

But in a disturbing new development, the Honolulu foster mother appointed to care for his sister Brodi, now 4, was investigated for possible abuse of the girl, according to a state Department of Human Services report obtained by the Star-Advertiser.

The foster mother was arrested after admitting that she hit Brodi and the girl was found to have a bloody lip, according to the Feb. 24 DHS report.

Brodi also had other injuries, including swollen fingertips, bruising of her palm, a swollen left hand, a thumb-size bruise on her cheek, a bump on her forehead and a jaw-line bruise, the report states.

The report said the Honolulu Police Department responded on Feb. 19 to the home of the DHS-licensed caretakers for Brodi.

The foster father, who also is in the Navy, was notified in San Diego and immediately flew back to Honolulu, officials said.

Brodi was placed in a “non-relative resource home” on Oahu and “appears to not be thriving due to the circumstances that led to her recent injuries,” the DHS report states.

http://www.dmzhawaii.org/?tag=matthew-mcveigh

Thanks for this info Plaid. Do you know why they don't just give the poor little girl to her grandmother? She has already been through so FF much. Had she been given to her relatives to begin with she would already be acclimated and thriving. This is so sad.

If she doesn't get therapy, she will grow up to be a messed up adult. JMO.

Father charged in baby's death
The Navy has been nearly silent about the case, in which a 14-month-old boy died of brain trauma

Mar 09, 2011

A former Navy diver who worked with SEAL commandos at Pearl Harbor has been charged with murdering his 14-month-old son, nearly a year and a half after the boy died from severe brain injury caused by "abusive head trauma," officials said.

Matthew McVeigh, 26, was charged by the military on Feb. 9 with one charge and two specifications of murder, one charge and two specifications of involuntary manslaughter, and one charge and one specification of assault in the death of Brayden McVeigh, the Navy said.

The Navy refused to provide documents with details of the accusation.

According to relatives and Honolulu medical examiner reports, Brayden had suffered a broken arm at five weeks, and he once had a black eye. Baby sitters had seen bruises on the little boy.

After Brayden's arm was broken, he and his older sister, Brodi, were placed by Child Protective Services in foster care for five months, and April and Matthew McVeigh had to take parenting and anger management classes, reports and family said.

It was a tragic end to a short life for Brayden, and seemingly with no justice before charges were brought last month.

But in a disturbing new development, the Honolulu foster mother appointed to care for his sister Brodi, now 4, was investigated for possible abuse of the girl, according to a state Department of Human Services report obtained by the Star-Advertiser.

The foster mother was arrested after admitting that she hit Brodi and the girl was found to have a bloody lip, according to the Feb. 24 DHS report.

Brodi also had other injuries, including swollen fingertips, bruising of her palm, a swollen left hand, a thumb-size bruise on her cheek, a bump on her forehead and a jaw-line bruise, the report states.

The report said the Honolulu Police Department responded on Feb. 19 to the home of the DHS-licensed caretakers for Brodi.

The foster father, who also is in the Navy, was notified in San Diego and immediately flew back to Honolulu, officials said.

Brodi was placed in a "non-relative resource home" on Oahu and "appears to not be thriving due to the circumstances that led to her recent injuries," the DHS report states.

The latest allegation of abuse involving the McVeigh children comes as the maternal grandmother in Port Isabel, Texas, and paternal grandparents in Hamilton, Ill., continue to seek custody of Brodi.

Terri Polm, the maternal grandmother and a critical care nurse, has made repeated efforts to provide care for Brodi. The children's mother, April, who lives with Polm, had her parental rights terminated, family and officials said.

Russell McVeigh, Matthew McVeigh's father, also has a custody request.

"We're trying to get the granddaughter," he said by phone. "We'd like to bring her back to Illinois. We live in a small town in Illinois. I live in the country and I farm."

Russell McVeigh criticized April McVeigh, who was in a rehabilitation center on the Big Island two years ago for what she previously said was methadone use that had been prescribed following a back injury.

April McVeigh, a stay-at-home mom, previously said she admitted in court that she was "neglectful" of the children, and her husband was made primary caregiver to get the children back from foster care.

She said she was on prescribed methadone for a back injury, but because of the medication, she was not properly watching her children, the court had concluded.

Matthew McVeigh would "come home from the Navy, he'd get (the children's) meals ... he bathed them at night and took care of them," said his grandmother June McVeigh. "He did what he could. He'd get up early in the morning and give them their breakfast and take them to the baby sitter."

An Article 32 hearing for Matthew McVeigh, similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, likely will be held in May, but no date has been set, the Navy's legal services office said.

If McVeigh is convicted at court-martial of the most serious charge, he faces life in prison.

In the meantime, McVeigh is not in custody and is assigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, officials said. He has been reclassified an engineman second class.

Asked why McVeigh is not in custody, the legal services office said in an e-mail, "No comment."

The office was asked whether it could provide a charge sheet detailing the accusations. "No," was its response.

Asked why it took nearly a year and a half to prefer charges, the legal services office said, "No comment."

When asked last August about the case, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service had said there was no typical time for how long an investigation takes, and some cases require more time than others.

McVeigh's military lawyer, Lt. Robert E. Long Jr., said he had no comment.

Brayden McVeigh's mother and father were with the boy on Sept. 18, 2009, at their Ford Island home when he was found unresponsive, according to reports and family members.

The medical examiner's report said Matthew McVeigh dropped off his daughter at day care and reportedly placed the boy in a playpen about 10 minutes before finding him unresponsive, at which point he called to his wife.

April McVeigh said her son had been sick the day before. She and daughter Brodi had slept upstairs while Brayden and his father slept downstairs.

Brayden would have become unresponsive at, or close to, the time that his abusive head injury was inflicted, the autopsy said.

The boy was rushed to the hospital, pronounced brain dead 52 hours later and died Sept. 20. Brayden died "as a result of intracranial injury due to abusive head trauma," the autopsy said. The severe brain injury could have been caused by shaking and/or impact, the report said.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110309_Father_charged_in_babys_death.html

Navy man pleads not guilty to killing his 14-month-old son

POSTED: 07:57 p.m. HST, Nov 01, 2011

A onetime Navy diver at Pearl Harbor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges that he struck his young son on multiple occasions over a year's time and then fatally injured the boy on Sept. 18, 2009, by striking him on the head and shaking his body.

Engineman 2nd Class Matthew McVeigh is charged with two specifications of murder, two specifications of manslaughter, and assault in the death of 14-month-old Brayden McVeigh, the Navy said.

A general court-martial trial was expected to take place in early December, but ongoing evidence gathering and scheduling conflicts may push the date back, officials said.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/133054363.html

Navy diver guilty of involuntary manslaughter in death of son

By Ken Kobayashi
POSTED: 10:42 a.m. HST, Dec 14, 2011
LAST UPDATED: 06:10 p.m. HST, Dec 14, 2011

A former Navy diver was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in miliary prison for involuntary manslaughter and assault in the 2009 death of his 14-month-old son.

Matthew McVeigh, an engineman 2nd class, was also sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, a reduction in rank to the lowest level of E-1 and total forfeiture of all pay and allowances.

McVeigh, 26, was on trial at the Pearl Harbor Naval Station on a charge of murdering Brayden McVeigh and would have faced a life term in prison if convicted.

But the miliary jury returned its verdict Tuesday after about nine hours of deliberations in finding McVeigh guilty of the lesser involuntary manslaughter charge and assault, according to Navy officials.

The manslaughter charge carried a prison term of up to 15 years and the assault up to two years.

The same jury of seven junior officers also heard arguments on sentencing Wednesday morning and later started deliberating before reaching its 12-year sentence in the afternoon.

McVeigh will temporarily be held at the Ford Island Brig pending his transfer to a military prison on the Mailand, Navy officials said.

"The Navy was committed to assuring a fair trial and that the interest of justice was paramount," spokeswoman Agnes Tauyan of Navy Region Hawaii said. "The Navy Ohana is saddened by the loss of Brayden McVeigh."

Under military law, McVeigh has an automatic appeal of his convictions to the Navy Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington D. C.

McVeigh was accused of striking Brayden on the head and shaking him at their Ford Island home.

The boy suffered massive hemorrhaging and a severely swollen brain, according to Navy prosecutors.

He was found unresponsive at the home Sept. 18, 2009, and pronounced brain-dead two days later.

In the opening of the trial, prosecutor Lt. James Toohey told the jury that McVeigh was stressed and overworked on the job and at home, and was facing financial problems and his wife's drug use, the prosecutor said.

McVeigh took out his problems on his young son in a pattern of escalating violence that included bruises, a broken arm and finally death, Toohey said.

Navy Commander David Norkin, McVeigh's attorney, suggested his client's former wife, April, might have been responsible. Norkin told the jury that the prosecution wouldn't be able to prove conclusively who killed the son.

April McVeigh, who was not charged in the case, testified during the trial and denied killing her son or shaking him.

Matthew McVeigh did not take the witness stand.

He was a diver assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 at Pearl Harbor at the time of his son's death.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/135606213.html

Ex-diver gets 12 years for toddler son's death

Dec. 15, 2011 - 09:01AM
Last Updated: Dec. 15, 2011 - 09:01AM
AP

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii — A former Navy diver in Hawaii was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for the death of his 14-month-old son.

The jury also ordered that Matthew McVeigh be dishonorably discharged, receive a reduction in rank, and forfeit all pay and allowances, Navy Region Hawaii spokeswoman Agnes Tauyan said.

The jurors on Tuesday found McVeigh guilty of involuntary manslaughter and battery in the September 2009 death of his son, Brayden McVeigh. They deliberated for nine hours.

Brayden died after suffering massive hemorrhaging and a severely swollen brain, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. He was pronounced brain-dead two days after he was found unresponsive at McVeigh's Ford Island home.

McVeigh, 26, will be transferred to a military prison on the mainland, Tauyan said. In the meantime, he's being sent to the Ford Island Brig. He could have been sentenced up to 17 years in prison.

The trial began Dec. 5 at the Navy Region Legal Services Office Courthouse on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

The prosecutor, Lt. James Toohey, told the jury that McVeigh was stressed and overwhelmed from work, financial problems and his wife's drug use and took it out on his son with physical violence.

Defense attorney David Norkin said McVeigh's ex-wife might have been responsible for the boy's death. However, April McVeigh testified that she did not kill the boy.

At the time of Brayden's death, McVeigh was assigned to SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 at Pearl Harbor. In December 2009, the engineman 2nd class was assigned to a transient personnel unit at the base.

http://www.navytimes.com/article/20111215/NEWS/112150332/Ex-diver-gets-12-years-toddler-son-s-death