"Toddler John" JOHNSON - 2 yo - Caln (W OF Philly) PA

A Caln woman's fiancée pleaded no contest Tuesday to charges he severely
beat her 2-year-old son while he was babysitting in the home they
shared with her mother.

Mason Harris Gray, 19, initially told
police that the boy had been vomiting in the bathroom of the apartment
and had fallen and hit his head on the toilet and the floor. But police
did not believe the story because the boy was covered with bruises from
head to toe, according to a description of his injuries by the
prosecutor in the case.

After the child was airlifted to A.I.
DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, doctors discovered the true
extent of the child's injuries: two subdural hematomas, a lacerated
liver, a fractured pelvis and numerous bruises.

Some of his
injuries were older, indicating the child might have been abused
previously, and he had been hospitalized before with bruising,

Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth B. Pitts said.

Gray
entered the no contest plea to charges of aggravated assault of a
child, recklessly endangering another person, simple assault, and
endangering the welfare of a child.

Assistant Public defender
Stuart R. Crichton said Gray was entering a no contest plea because his
client's mental health issues prevent him from recalling the events
surrounding the incident.

A no contest plea allows a judge to treat defendants as if they had pleaded guilty.

The
charge of assaulting a child carries a mandatory minimum sentence of
five to 10 years in prison. Crichton said Pitts had made it clear she
would seek a longer sentence than that for Gray.

Judge David
Bortner accepted Gray's plea and said he expects a pre-sentence report
on Gray and that Crichton and Pitts would submit psychological
evaluations beforehand.

"I am not expecting that this will be an easy sentence to craft or to impose," Bortner told Gray.

Pitts
said the victim, now 3 years old, had been in and out of the hospital
for weeks after the beating and that at one time he was near death from
complications that developed.

"He is improving now, and he is out
of the hospital and no longer in critical condition," she said, noting
he will need further surgery because of his injuries.

The child's
mother, Kimberly Johnson, was in court for the plea, as was Caln Police
Chief Brian Byerly and three township officers who helped investigate
the case.

Gray said little during the proceeding, only answering
Bortner's questions about the rights he was giving up by entering the no
contest plea.

Pitts said Caln police were called Feb. 2 to the
home on Lincoln Highway and found the unresponsive boy on the living
room floor. He was taken from the apartment to the Thorndale Fire
Company by ambulance then airlifted to DuPont.

After doctors
advised police the injuries the boy had suffered were consistent with
abuse and were not accidental, police confronted Gray about what had
happened. Gray gave several different answers as to how the boy had been
injured, Pitts said, including that he had accidentally dropped the boy
while carrying him in the living room then fell on top of him.

Gray was babysitting the boy while his girlfriend, Johnson, and her mother were at work.

Police
also found a text messages that Gray had sent to Johnson in which he
wrote the boy had been injured and that he did not want to call the
police.

"They are going to think I did this," one message read, according to Pitts.

Sentencing is to take place later this year.