SHAWN BROWN Jr - 5 Months - Battle Creek MI

A Battle Creek man charged with the murder of his young son insisted the child died
after choking on a bottle of formula.
Shawn Brown, 26, told several people that he was feeding his
5-month-old son, Shawn Brown Jr. on Jan. 22 when the baby stopped
breathing, witnesses testified Tuesday on the first day of Brown's open
murder and child abuse trial.Testimony continues today before
Calhoun County Circuit Judge Allen Garbrecht."He
said, 'I was feeding him and he started choking. I patted him on the
back and he made a noise I hadn't heard before,'" testified Mack McGill
III, the baby's uncle.McGill said Brown also insisted, "I would never do nothing to my son.
I would never do nothing to my son."McGill
and several others who testified in Calhoun County Circuit Court said
they believed Brown until doctors reported that the boy suffered serious
head injuries. The baby died two days after being taken to Battle Creek
Health System and then to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo."As
a result of his abuse the child died," Assistant Calhoun County
Prosecutor Daniel Buscher told the jury during his opening statement.
"His actions in abusing the 5-month-old child resulted in his death."Buscher
told the jury he doesn't believe the shaking was planned and said he
does not believe Brown was a bad father or a bad person.But
he said the baby was injured by prolonged shaking and died a "swift,
painful death." The baby didn't have a pulse when he arrived at the
hospital, Buscher said, and had to be resuscitated and kept on a
ventilator until he died."We
all hope no one can do this to a child, especially a parent, but every
shred of medical testimony will show one person did it and that person
was the defendant. This child died at the hands of his father, there is
no mistake," Buscher said.Buscher said he will call six doctors and two nurses
to testify about the injuries before the trial ends early next week.But
defense attorney Jim Goulooze of Hastings cautioned jurors not to
decide the case on emotion and insisted the case turns on intent.
"The intent is where the prosecutor will have trouble in this case,"
Goulooze said. "There is justification. You will see it in this case."
And Goulooze told jurors they would hear from Brown, who has wanted to tell his story
since his arrest."For every one of those 200 days he has waited patiently
to tell you what happened. I promise you will hear from my client."Jessica
Richardson, a friend of the child's mother, Lenora Horton, said she
stopped at the couple's home on Rittenhouse Avenue just as Shawn Brown
stepped out on the porch that day about noon, telling her, "we got to
take Junior to the hospital. He is not breathing."Richardson,
who said she is trained as a nurse's assistant, found the child was not
breathing and had blood coming from his nose. She said the baby's eyes
were nearly closed and he was not responsive.Like
others who testified, Richardson said Brown normally cared for his son
and was a good father. She also described him as calm. When she asked him what happened,
he told her, "I was feeding the little nigger a bottle and he started choking."

A pathologist testified Friday that, after performing an autopsy on a
5-month-old Battle Creek boy, she believed he was murdered by traumatic
brain injury, commonly known as shaking impact syndrome.
Dr. Joyce DeJong was one of five physicians brought to the stand
Friday in the third day of the open murder trial of Battle Creek's Shawn
Brown, 26, who is charged in the death of his son, Shawn Brown Jr.



The father took his baby to Battle Creek Health System at 12:37 p.m. Jan.
22 where it was discovered the baby did not have a pulse and was not
breathing. The child was kept alive two more days with medical
intervention before he was pronounced dead at Bronson Methodist Hospital
in Kalamazoo.Using anatomical illustrations of the brain and eyes, Assistant Calhoun
County Prosecutor Daniel Buscher asked DeJong to explain why her
diagnosis was homicide.A combination of several factors led her to believe
a traumatic injury was the cause of death instead of choking or disease.Family
members have testified that Brown told them he was feeding his son when
the baby began choking and stopped breathing. He said he patted the boy
on his back, and when the child made another sound, he patted him a
little harder.During the baby's autopsy Jan. 25, DeJong found hemorrhaging in a particular
layer of the brain between the cortex and the skull called the subdural
layer.In nearly all cases where blood is found in this part of the brain, some sort of
traumatic injury caused it to be there, she said. In rare cases tumors
can cause blood to be there, but the pathologist found no tumors in the
baby's brain."What that tells us is this was trauma," she said.The
autopsy also revealed the brain was "remarkably swollen" and there was
blood in the back of the eyes. The cluster of injuries had all occurred
at about the same time, she said.Defense
Attorney James Goulooze cross-examined the pathologist by asking if
pneumonia or choking could have caused the baby to stop breathing and
the brain to swell.DeJong said lack of oxygen can cause the brain to swell,
but that alone would not cause subdural hemorrhaging.
"It's not a natural disease that's going to cause this," she said.
"I believe there's an impact involved here."
A slight thumping of the chest and back would not have caused this level of injury,
she said, nor would two small shakes."The degree of force would be a violent action," she said.
Goulooze also asked why, if the defendant had allegedly shaken his baby,
the neck and spine showed no injuries.DeJong said in some cases there are no neck and spine injuries.Dr.
Alain Fabi, a neurosurgeon who treated the baby after he was
transferred to Bronson, confirmed that there had been no evidence of
injury to the neck and spine.But
he said "there was a lot of swelling on the brain" that lead him to
believe a traumatic injury was to blame. He attempted to relieve the
pressure by inserting a catheter to drain the spinal fluid, but said the
pressure was too great.When
Goulooze asked why in his medical record he noted that the parents had
seemed apathetic about their child's condition, he said it just seemed
odd to him."They're looking at me with no response," he said. "I found that disturbing."The
trial resumes Tuesday when the prosecution is expected to bring one
final medical professional to testify before the jury in the courtroom
of Circuit Judge Allen Garbrecht.

A Battle Creek father faces up to 30 years in prison after his
conviction Wednesday on two charges in the January death of his son.
A Calhoun County Circuit Court jury convicted Shawn Brown, 26, of
voluntary manslaughter and child abuse in the second-degree after
deliberating five hours.The
12-member jury could have chosen felony murder or first- or
second-degree murder, or not guilty in the death of Brown's 5-month old
son, Shawn Brown, Jr.The
manslaughter charge normally carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in
prison, but because of prior felony convictions for armed robbery and
possession of cocaine, the maximum possible sentence for Brown is
doubled. He will be sentenced Sept. 13 by Judge Allen Garbrecht.Brown sat motionless listening to the verdict just after 5 p.m. but then lowered his head before he was taken back to jail.Behind
him members of both his family and the family of the child's mother,
Lenora Horton, cried and a few from Horton's family said "Praise God.""God is just so good," Horton said after hugging Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Buscher. "It came out just the way it needed to."Outside the courtroom several members of Horton's family and friends hugged each other.Not far down the hall, members of Brown's family gathered, many crying.Brown's mother, Nadine Brown of Kalamazoo left crying, saying only, "I don't even want to talk."Brown's attorney, James Goulooze of Hastings, declined comment and jurors left without talking to a reporter.Buscher said he was happy about the verdict in an emotional case for everyone involved."It's
a 5-month-old child with the allegation that a parent killed him. That
takes an emotional toll and is hard on everyone," he said. "I think the
mother and the family are happy and there was some justice for the
victim. We are talking about a healthy 5-month-old and there is no
reason he shouldn't be here with us."Brown
was charged after he brought the baby to Battle Creek Health System on
Jan. 22 saying the child began to choke while drinking formula from a
bottle and then stopped breathing. He died at Bronson Methodist Hospital
in Kalamazoo three days later.
But several doctors testified at the trial that the infant died because of head trauma caused by severe shaking.
Before they began their discussions, jurors heard from both attorneys in the case.Goulooze
told jurors medicine is not an exact science and he questioned the
findings of the doctors and the police investigators."Medicine
is a practice and it does the best it can with science but it is wrong
sometimes," Goulooze said. "The question is did it happen? Did he murder
this child beyond a reasonable doubt?"He
suggested that the baby's godmother arrived after Brown said his son
was choking about noon on Jan. 22 and then there was the drive to Battle
Creek Health System in Brown's car and an hour later a trip in a
Lifecare ambulance to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. Goulooze
said the child could have been injured by the rescue efforts of the
godmother, during the ride to the hospital or even by the ambulance
attendants.Goulooze
blamed the police for immediately focusing on Brown and then conducting
an interview after notifying him in jail that his son was dead.He
said Brown didn't waver on his version of events and blamed any
variations in his statements on poorly written reports by investigators.He reminded jurors that no one, not even members of the mother's family, suggested Brown was abusive to his son."This young man was a good father," Goulooze said."We
can't explain it because we didn't do it," Goulooze said about he and
his client. "Find my client as the evidence demands: not guilty. And I
submit to you that my client is innocent."But
Calhoun County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Buscher said while he
doesn't believe Brown intended to kill his son, the doctors all reached
the same conclusion: that the baby died from severe head trauma from
shaking, not from choking on formula."I
don't believe his story. He has tried to minimize what he did. There is
no evidence that he was choking. The experts agree it could not happen
that way," Buscher said.Buscher said Brown had attended classes and knew the danger of shaking an infant."He knew the consequences and his child died."Buscher
said Brown was more concerned about himself than the baby and lied
about what happened, and then during the trial his attorney suggested
implausible ways of how the child was injured."He
watched his child gasp for his last breath. He was not panicking for
his child. He was panicking for himself. I ask you to hold him
responsible for what he did. Don't allow him to lie his way out of a
murder."He murdered his child. That is a fact."