NATHAN COLEMAN - 1 yo (2008) - Long Beach CA

LONG BEACH - The lawyer for a 23-year-old Los
Angeles man charged with beating his girlfriend's baby to death in 2008
told jurors Tuesday it was the child's mother who delivered the fatal
blows, not the defendant.
"If you're in love and you're young you tell the one you love 'I'll help you,'" Deputy Public Defender Alan Nakasone said.
"So you put your child in a bag and you get on a bus and you put the baby in a Dumpster."
The stunning new take on the case was delivered as part of
Nakasone's opening statement at the Long Beach Superior Court Tuesday.
Nakasone's client, Anthony Hall Jr., is charged with three felony
counts for the beating and stomping death of his girlfriend's
13-month-old son, Nathan Coleman.
Police and prosecutors have maintained since Hall's arrest on the
day the dead child was found that Hall killed the 13-month-old during a
fit of rage on or about Sept. 19, 2008, while baby-sitting.
Hall dumped the baby's body in a downtown Long Beach trash bin, then
called his girlfriend and claimed the child was abducted to cover up
his crime, authorities charge.
Deputy District Attorney Bob Hight warned jurors Tuesday that the
case is a difficult one filled with disturbing testimony and horrific
evidence that shows the baby was savagely beaten and suffered numerous
broken bones and bruises, including 12 cracked ribs and a nearly
shattered skull.
"There is a large open gash on the side of the baby's head,they
have to roll back the face literally (to show) where the skull wall
shows cracks and fractures like on a crystal vase," Hight said.
As Hight described the process used by coroner's investigators to
document the cause of death the defendant's mother winced and bowed her
head. Both of his parents were present Tuesday.
The baby's mother and her family are witnesses and were therefore not able to sit in on the trial.
In addition to opening statements, jurors heard testimony from two
men who found the child's lifeless body in the trash bin and Long Beach
police.
Homicide Detective Bryan McMahon described extensive bruising to the
boy's back, chest, abdomen, neck and face as the prosecutor showed
about 30 photos from the crime scene. Some of the pictures also showed
signs of decomposition, including fly larvae in one of the baby's ears
and one of his eyes.
Hight said Hall initially claimed the child was abducted by a group
of Hispanics who had been following him as he walked the baby in his
stroller near the couple's Los Angeles apartment.
After pointing out the many inconsistencies in his story, the
prosecutor said, Hall admitted he hit the child twice with an open hand
in the face, causing the boy to spin around and hit his head on his
crib.
The defendant also allegedly told investigators he did not want the
boy's mother to see him in that condition so he put the baby to bed
before she got home from school that night, and got up before her in
the morning, telling her he had already changed the baby when it he
awoke that morning and put him back to sleep.
It was sometime later that day, after she left for school, that Hall
allegedly pulled the child out of the crib and got him dressed, Hight
said. Hall also allegedly told officers he made himself some waffles
for breakfast and logged onto the computer for a while before finding a
large black trash bag to haul the baby's body away.
Hall took the Blue Line train and at least one bus to get from his
L.A. apartment to Long Beach. The prosecution plans to play video from
a bus that shows Hall sitting in a seat with the black trash bag stowed
on the floor below.
The baby was tossed face-first in a trash bin in an alley near Third
Street and Linden Avenue, police and witnesses testified Tuesday.
A black trash bag and a small black Converse tennis shoe matching
one found on the child was discovered in a green recycling bin around
the corner in another alley, police said.
Hight said Hall left a message on the child's mother's phone saying
he was sorry, that it was "an accident" and that he wasn't "a monster."
Nakasone, however, said it was the baby's sleep-deprived mother who
came home from school late one night to an inconsolable baby and lost
control, beating her son to death.
"Evidence will show that Anthony Hall didn't kill the child ...
(Hall) told a lie so his girl doesn't go to prison," Nakasone said.
Testimony is scheduled to resume today at 9:30 a.m.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A jury has convicted a 23-year-old California man of killing his girlfriend's 1-year-old son.
The Superior Court panel in Long Beach deliberated for an hour Tuesday
before finding Anthony Hall Jr. guilty of assaulting and murdering Nathan Coleman.
Prosecutors say Hall killed the boy in a fit of rage while baby-sitting in Los Angeles, put
the body in a trash bag and discarded it in a Long Beach trash bin in
September 2008.
Hall had initially claimed the child was kidnapped, then he admitted hitting the boy. At trial he
claimed the child's mother murdered the boy and he only helped her
cover it up.
Hall faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced March 15.

A man who killed his girlfriend's 1-year-old son and dumped the body in a trash
bin has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
A Long Beach Superior Court judge on Monday sentenced Jerome Hall Jr. for
assaulting and murdering Nathan Coleman.

Prosecutors say that Hall killed
the boy in a fit of rage while babysitting in Los Angeles, put the body in a
trash bag and discarded it in a Long Beach trash bin in September
2008.

Hall had initially claimed the child was kidnapped, then he
admitted to hitting the boy. At trial he claimed the child's mother murdered her
own child and he only helped her cover it up. He was convicted in February.


The boy died from blunt force trauma, with two wounds to his head and
back.