TRIUMPH SKINNER - 7 Months (2010) - Orlando FL

An Orange County father who has already served time for child abuse is back behind bars in connection to his infant son's death. The Department of Children and Families says Keith Skinner beat his seven-month-old son, Triumph, to death.The Orange County Sheriff's Office was called to Skinner's home on South Magnolia, late Sunday night.DCF could not say exactly why Skinner was allowed back in the home, but say he has been on their radar awhile.Skinner was arrested in 2004 for beating another one of his children. DCF did not take the children out of the home because the mother agreed to protect them. But once Skinner was out of prison, he was allowed to go back to the home.In February, DCF said it received another phone call about the family. However, when investigators checked it out, both Skinner and his wife told them he was not living there, and he denied the baby was his child. The agency says Skinner and the child's mother both lied to investigators.Skinner could be charged with murder, depending on what his son's autopsy reveals.The sheriff’s office declined to say whether the child’s mother would face any charges.Another seven-year-old child who is also living in the home has been placed in foster care.Meanwhile, Skinner is scheduled to make his first appearance before a judge Tuesday morning at 8:00am.

The Orange County Medical Examiner said a 7-month-old baby, Triumph Skinner, died from blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen. His father, 30-year-old Keith Skinner, is now charged with murder. And that's not Skinner's first run in with the law for harming a child. Court documents show that back in 2004 Skinner was arrested and found guilty of whipping his now 8 year old daughter with a belt leaving her with welts on her behind when she was just a toddler. He was sentenced to four years in prison. When asked why Skinner was back around children, Florida Department of Children and Family Services spokesperson Carrie Hoeppner, replied, "It's my understanding that he had successfully completed provision status probational status his jail term and had rekindled a relationship with the family." Paperwork shows DCF paid a visit to the same home where baby Triumph was killed over the weekend back in February. The 7 month old baby was just a few days old. Somebody had called DCF to say that Keith Skinner was back in this house and they had concerns with him being around small children and potentially harming them. The big question is, could DCF have done anything back then to prevent this baby from being killed? "When we looked at that case earlier this year, we had no legal grounds to take further action. When we met with the family, Mr. Skinner denied living in the mom, she denied Skinner lived in the home, so did their daughter," said Hoeppner. Hoeppner says back in February both children were fine, and showed no signs of abuse. And, at that point, Skinner denied that baby Triumph was his. DCF reports that they now believe that they were lied to. Skinner's arrest affidavit revealed that he has been living in with his girlfriend and their two children for quite some time. Both Skinner's girlfriend and their 8 year old daughter told police they have been afraid of Skinner for quite some time. As for what happened to baby Triumph, Skinner told police he came home drunk Friday night and accidentally stepped on the child. Police documents showed the child had several bruised ribs in various stages of recovery. Skinner's girlfriend told investigators that Skinner admitted to her that he had abused the child Saturday and Sunday while she was at work. Investigators say Skinner called his girlfriend telling his girlfriend to come home from work because something was wrong with the baby. The baby later died at the hospital.

10/18/2011 Pre-Trial Conference (8:30 AM) (Judicial Officer Thorpe, Janet C)
Trial 10/31/2011
08/22/2011 Returned Mail

http://myclerk.myorangeclerk.com/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=7386291

Mermaid55,

Thanks so much for posting the link to the child abuse homicides in Orange County. My daughter lives in Orlando and followed the Casey Anthony case (so did I) and I'm going to share that list with her. She's shocked at how much child abuse is going on out there.

Mother of slain infant sentenced for neglect
Michelle Ford's boyfriend Keith Skinner is charged will killing their 7-month-old son Triumph Skinner last September.


By Bianca Prieto, Orlando Sentinel
11:52 a.m. EDT, September 16, 2011

The mother of a 7-month-old boy who was beaten to death last year was sentenced today.

Michelle Ford, 31, pleaded guilty to aggravated child neglect and was sentenced to one year in jail followed by four years of probation. Keith Skinner, Ford's long-time boyfriend and father of two of her three children, is charged with the murder of their son Triumph Skinner.

As part of the plea deal, Ford is required to testify against Skinner in court when he goes to trial next year. She is also not allowed to have unsupervised contact with her two remaining children.

Ford has lost custody of her 9-year-old daughter and she is being cared for by the Department of Children and Families. Her newborn son has also been taken away, assistant state attorney Shannon O'Brien said in court.


This is not the first time DCF has had to intervene.

Skinner, who is charged with first-degree murder in Triumph's death, served a 3-year prison sentence for a child abuse conviction. Ford said, in court, that Skinner left welts on their daughter.

During today's sentencing, Ford briefly testified about her son's death.

At the time of Triumph's death last September, he and his sister were being cared for by their father while their mother worked. As soon as Ford returned from work, Skinner handed her the baby.

"You need to get this boy. I done roughed him up today," Ford recalled Skinner telling her.

She assumed Skinner had played rough with him, Ford told the judge today. That night, Ford said Triumph had trouble breathing and threw up his milk. She assumed it was because he was teething.

The following day, Skinner called Ford at work and told her to rush home because of an emergency. When Ford arrived at their apartment, she saw her Triumph on the floor.

"He started pounding on my son's chest and trying to breath into his mouth," Ford said. "I had to make him call 911."

Ford said Skinner told her to tell police she was in the shower and Triumph had rolled off the bed. He begged her not to send him to jail and said "I didn't mean to do it," Ford said.

But at the hospital, doctors found Triumph had "numerous fractured ribs which were in various stages of healing," according to a Sheriff's office report. Triumph also suffered a "perforated bowel" and a "severely fractured skull."

Once her son died, Ford said she had to tell the truth.

"I cannot cover up for you," she told the judge. "If you can't be a man and tell these people what happened..."

A DCF spokeswoman said today's verdict was appropriate.

"We are pleased with the outcome of the verdict in this case," said DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner. "Our death investigation has since been closed - verifying that the death was a direct result of abuse, not only by the individual who inflicted the injuries to Triumph, but also as to the parent - who failed to protect him from harm."

After the hearing Ford, who was dressed in a green t-shirt and blue jeans, was handcuffed and sent to jail. She glanced at the clock before being escorted from the courtroom.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-michelle-ford-child-neglect-sentence-20110916,0,2118658.story

babyjustice wrote:Mermaid55,

Thanks so much for posting the link to the child abuse homicides in Orange County. My daughter lives in Orlando and followed the Casey Anthony case (so did I) and I'm going to share that list with her. She's shocked at how much child abuse is going on out there.

You're welcome.It's an epidemic.

01/23/2012 Trial (8:30 AM) (Judicial Officer Thorpe, Janet C)

http://myclerk.myorangeclerk.com/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=7386291

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-02-03/news/os-keith-skinner-death-penalty-20120203_1_keith-skinner-death-penalty-capital-punishment

Death penalty hearing set for dad in baby killing case



Keith Skinner is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 7-month-old son, Triumph



February 03, 2012|By Anthony Colarossi and Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel

Circuit Judge Janet Thorpe denied motions made by the attorney for accused baby killer Keith Skinner to disqualify the death penalty in the first-degree murder case.

Skinner's case is set to go to trial in the next year and he could face death in the 2010 beating death of his 7-month-old son.

Skinner's attorney Gerard Hooper made several arguments to have capital punishment precluded from the trial, going so far as to ask Judge Thorpe to declare Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional.

But the judge rejected Hooper's petition and set a date to move forward with the case.

The boy, whose name was Triumph, died in September 2010 after suffering a "perforated bowel" and a "severely fractured skull" when he was taken to the hospital, officials said at the time. He also had fractured ribs in "various stages of healing."

During an interview with detectives, the child's mother initially said she was in the bathroom getting ready for work when the baby fell from a bed and hit his head on something. She later changed her story and said Skinner, her boyfriend and father of Triumph was caring for the children while she was at work.

Skinner, 31, told his girlfriend then that he had "rough him [Triumph] up."

During an interview with detectives, Skinner initially denied knowing his child was hurt. He later said he went home drunk on Friday night and "stepped" on the boy's stomach and could have caused the injuries, the report said.

Skinner claimed he didn't know how the boy's skull was fractured, but admitted he regularly throws Triumph in the air and dropped him on accident once and that could have caused the rib fractures.

Father takes plea, sentenced to prison for fatal abuse of 7-month-old
Keith Skinner, 33, was sentenced to just less than 22 years in prison.

September 11, 2013|By Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel

A man accused of murder in the death of his 7-month-old son pleaded no contest to a lesser charge and was sentenced to more than two decades in state prison on Wednesday.

Keith Skinner, 33, pleaded to aggravated manslaughter of a child in the September 2010 death of his son, Triumph, and was sentenced to just less than 22 years in prison, with credit for about three years already served in the Orange County Jail.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-09-11/news/os-child-abuse-death-prison-sentence-20130911_1_keith-skinner-michelle-ford-7-month-old-son