ZJAIRE WILLIAMS - 2 yo - Gaithersburg MD

In a courtroom filled with weeping family and friends, the teenage
father charged with killing his 2-year-old son in January accepted a
plea deal that would imprison him for 10 years at a state facility for
emotionally and mentally disturbed young criminals.Darryl Eugene Powell, of the 9400 block of Merust Lane of Gaithersburg,
now 18, pleaded guilty Monday in Montgomery County Circuit Court to
first-degree child abuse, which carries a 30-year maximum sentence in
Maryland when the abuse results in death.Prosecutors and Powell's public defenders asked Judge Louise G.
Scrivener to suspend 20 years and to refer Powell to the Patuxent
Institution Youth Program, for which offenders must have "an
intellectual impairment or emotional imbalance," according to the state
corrections department.After being indicted for first-degree murder and first-degree child
abuse in February, Powell entered a plea of not guilty in March. Under
the deal reached Monday, Powell would waive his right to ask state
officials to shorten his sentence.Scrivener cautioned Powell that she did not have to abide by the terms
of the plea and said that Patuxent assesses its intake independently of
whatever she recommends. She set sentencing for January.Wearing a green jumpsuit Monday, Powell briskly answered "Yes, ma'am"
and "No, ma'am" as Scrivener went through routine questioning to make
sure he understood the consequences of pleading guilty.
He did not make any statements. Attempts to reach Powell's relatives were unsuccessful.Zjaire's maternal relatives accepted the plea deal "reluctantly" and
felt let down by Maryland's child laws, Enrico Williams, Zjaire's
great-uncle, said after the hearing."We will never overcome the senselessness, callousness and brutality of
the crime perpetrated against him and the resulting impact on all of
our lives," an aunt read from a family statement Monday night. "While
we appreciate the hard work and dedication of the States Attorney's
office and the prosecuting attorneys, we are disappointed that the laws
in Montgomery County are not more severe towards those who heartlessly
harm and murder our children. Zjaire was a precious little boy. We will
hold him in our hearts forever."
Calls and e-mails to the State's Attorney's office and public defender's office were not returned.At Monday's plea hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Karla Smith laid
out the following timeline of events the night Zjaire died:The evening of Jan. 6, Powell called Zjaire's mother to ask if his son
could spend the night. Zjaire's mother dropped off her son at Powell's
house after 2 a.m. Jan. 7. After watching television, Powell and Zjaire
went to sleep on different sofas. Powell told police he woke up and
found Zjaire unresponsive and laying face down on cushions on the floor.Powell called 9-1-1 and tried to administer CPR with a technician's
help on the phone, said Mary K. Siegfried, Powell's public defender.
Police and rescue crews arrived a few minutes later, just after 6:15
a.m.Zjaire was pronounced dead at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital within the
hour. Hospital staff found a cut lip and bruises on his body and face,
Smith said. The state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide the
next day.Sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom Monday, family and friends
of Powell and Zjaire's mother cried as Smith listed the grisly injuries
detailed in the autopsy, which she said were "fresh" and consistent
with Zjaire having been beaten and kicked to death.

Two families gathered on either side of a courtroom in Montgomery
County on Wednesday, the tension between them rising. Before them was
Darryl Powell, 18, about to be sentenced in the beating death of his
2-year-old son, Zjaire Williams.


"That's a good person. That's a good person," a relative of Powell's cried out as a prosecutor argued for a 20-year sentence.

"He's a baby killer," said a relative of the boy's mother. "He's a baby killer."

At one point during the hearing, Circuit Court Judge Louise Scrivener told the families to ratchet things down.

"Both sides of this courtroom are experiencing a great deal of
pain," she said from the bench. "There's obviously a lot of emotion
here today and has been for many, many months. . . . I believe that all
of you loved this child. Of course you did. He's a beautiful child.
Don't mar that by anger and violence when you leave the courtroom
today."

She then sentenced Powell to 20 years in prison on a charge of child
abuse resulting in death, following a plea agreement worked out among
lawyers in the case. As part of the plea, an earlier charge of murder
was dropped.

"Mr. Powell, you abused your own son and caused his death," Scrivener said.

On Jan. 6, 2009, Powell called Zjaire's mother, Todzja Williams, and
asked her to bring the boy to his house in Gaithersburg to spend the
night. She and a friend arrived about 2:30 the next morning, and they
later told police that Zjaire was in fine health at the time.

"We're never going to know what happened in those early-morning hours,"prosecutor Karla Smith said in court. "The only person who knows what
happened is the defendant. What we do know is that Zjaire was brutally
beaten,
that he was beaten so badly that his liver was almost severed
in two."

Powell told detectives that after his son arrived, the two watched
TV,
he gave Zjaire some water and they went to sleep on separate sofas.
When he woke up, his son was on the floor, unresponsive. He called 911
and tried CPR, but his son died a short time later at Shady Grove
Adventist Hospital.

Zjaire was found to have hemorrhaging wounds under his scalp and
bruises
all over his body, prosecutors said. They were prepared to call
a medical
expert who would have said the child could not have survived
long with the abdominal wound.

"Most animals protect their young," Cynthia Brown, a relative of the
child's mother,
said at the hearing. "You get rats that will protect
their young.
What manner of ungodly human being would beat an innocent
2-year-old baby?"

Members of Powell's family have said that Zjaire was already injured
when he
arrived at Powell's home. Several of them cried during the
hearing.

Powell did not speak at the hearing. His attorney, Mary Siegfried,
said he
faced tragedy growing up: A family friend burned his stomach
with an iron;
he found the body of his half-brother, who had hanged
himself from a closet rod;
and he had diabetes and "significant mental
health issues."

"Four o'clock in the morning, in a calamity of issues that all have
come around,
in one frustrating moment, Zjaire, unfortunately, was
killed," Siegfried said.
"And it's something that Darryl tried to
erase. He tried. He called 911.
He called them and said, 'Help me. Help
me. My son's not breathing.' "


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"We're never going to know what happened in those early-morning hours,"
prosecutor Karla Smith said in court. "The only person who knows what
happened is the defendant. What we do know is that Zjaire was brutally
beaten, that he was beaten so badly that his liver was almost severed
in two."

Powell told detectives that after his son arrived, the two watched
TV, he gave Zjaire some water and they went to sleep on separate sofas.
When he woke up, his son was on the floor, unresponsive. He called 911
and tried CPR, but his son died a short time later at Shady Grove
Adventist Hospital.

Zjaire was found to have hemorrhaging wounds under his scalp and
bruises all over his body, prosecutors said. They were prepared to call
a medical expert who would have said the child could not have survived
long with the abdominal wound.

"Most animals protect their young," Cynthia Brown, a relative of the
child's mother, said at the hearing. "You get rats that will protect
their young. What manner of ungodly human being would beat an innocent
2-year-old baby?"

Members of Powell's family have said that Zjaire was already injured
when he arrived at Powell's home. Several of them cried during the
hearing.

Powell did not speak at the hearing. His attorney, Mary Siegfried,
said he faced tragedy growing up: A family friend burned his stomach
with an iron; he found the body of his half-brother, who had hanged
himself from a closet rod; and he had diabetes and "significant mental
health issues."

"Four o'clock in the morning, in a calamity of issues that all have
come around, in one frustrating moment, Zjaire, unfortunately, was
killed," Siegfried said. "And it's something that Darryl tried to
erase. He tried. He called 911. He called them and said, 'Help me. Help
me. My son's not breathing.' "