GEORGE WILBURN - 8 Months (2010) - Harper Woods (NE of Detroit) MI

A Harper Woods woman who authorities say told police she threw her 8-month-old son against a wall has been charged with child abuse following the infant's death.

Twenty-year-old Delniece Williams was charged Wednesday with first-degree child abuse. She sobbed during her video arraignment in 37th District Court in Warren and was held on $1 million bond. Her next court hearing is Oct. 21.

She's asked for a court-appointed lawyer. Police say she could face a murder charge later.

Authorities say Williams and her son George Wilburn had been staying in Warren, and the child was brought to a hospital on Monday afternoon. Police say George had skull fractures and several broken ribs.

The child was transferred to Children's Hospital of Michigan, where he died Tuesday.

A preliminary examination will resume March 24 for a 20-year-old
woman charged in the Oct. 11 slaying of her infant son.
The hearing for Delniece Williams
began Tuesday in Warren District Court with testimony
from two police officers.
Authorities say Williams slammed her 8-month-old George Wilburn Jr.
on the floor at her boyfriend's Warren apartment.
The infant later died of his injuries.
Williams was charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110302/METRO03/103020369/Officers-testify-at-hearing-for-mom-in-child’s-death#ixzz1FSTUy3If

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120208/METRO/202080350

Trial date set for woman in 8-month-old child's death


A Macomb Circuit judge on Tuesday set April 10 for the trial of a 21-year-old Harper Woods woman accused of killing her 8-month-old child. Delniece Williams has been charged with first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. Judge James Biernat set the trial date after ruling that statements Williams made to police cannot be suppressed. Police say Williams slammed her baby, George Wilburn Jr., into the floor at her boyfriend's Warren home Oct. 11, 2010. The child died in a hospital from his injuries a few days later.

http://www.miweekly.com/news/85-detroit/805-hearing-delayed-for-mom-in-baby-s-death-detnews-com
Hearing delayed for mom in baby's death | detnews.com



Last Updated: May 12. 2011 1:00AM

Macomb briefs


Mount Clemens

A pretrial hearing was postponed Wednesday for a woman in the death of her 8-month-old son after she requested a new attorney, according to court records. Delniece Williams, 21, is charged with felony and first-degree murder in the Oct. 11 death of her son, George Wilburn Jr.

Judge James M. Biernat Jr. of Macomb County Circuit Court granted the motion from Williams' attorney, Jeffery Cojocar, to withdraw from the case after his client made the request. Williams is due back in court June 16 after another attorney is appointed.

When 8-month-old George Wilburn Jr. was examined by an emergency room
doctor in Warren in October 2010, the doctor had no doubt what the
pattern of injuries meant.
"It can't be anything but child abuse,"
Dr. Richard Giovannini testified Wednesday in the murder trial of the
boy's mother, Delniece Williams.
The 22-year-old Harper Woods
woman is on trial in Macomb County Circuit Court, charged with
first-degree murder and child abuse in the boy's killing. He died the
day after he was brought to the hospital.
Under questioning from
Assistant Prosecutor William Cataldo, Giovannini described the injuries
George suffered in the hours before he was brought to Henry Ford Macomb
Hospital's Warren Campus by Williams and her boyfriend. The injuries
were a skull fracture severe enough to force the shattered bone into the
baby's brain, multiple rib fractures, massive bruising and what
appeared to be a human bite mark.
"I'm surprised he made it to the hospital alive," the doctor testified.
Cataldo asked the doctor about Williams' demeanor at the time.
"May
I say nonchalant?" Giovannini said before comparing the reaction to
that of other parents of injured children who usually want to know
everything about the treatment process.
Giovannini said that
Williams told him she had been feeding George when he became
unresponsive, but during questioning by defense attorney Andrea Fanning,
Giovannini acknowledged that a report written at the time said her
boyfriend had been feeding the boy.
Fanning told jurors that
George's death was not caused by her client, pointing out that five
other adults were in the home at the time. The home in Warren was that
of her boyfriend, Aaron Matchett.
Fanning took issue with claims
made during Cataldo's opening statement that Williams had changed her
story several times in talking with police, noting that she was
questioned for more than 12 hours overnight.
"I submit to you that anybody under that type of pressure would crack under those circumstances," she said.
Cataldo
said Williams provided numerous stories to police about what happened.
In one version, Williams dropped the baby when Williams' 2 1/2-year-old
son bumped her leg. In another, the injuries were a result of the older
boy head-butting George. Giovannini testified that the injuries were too
serious to be caused in either fashion.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120517/NEWS04/205170663/Doctor-testifies-at-Warren-woman-s-murder-trial-that-injuries-to-baby-were-child-abuse-

Before she was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole
in the murder of her 8-month-old son, a Harper Woods woman told a Macomb
County Circuit Court judge that she was not the monster portrayed in
the news media.
Delniece Williams, 22, asked Judge James Biernat
Jr. to look deep inside his heart to give her a lesser sentence, but
Biernat, who called it a tragic situation, said her first-degree murder
conviction required a mandatory sentence.
"I would like to
apologize for my actions in the courtroom, but I am not taking full
responsibility for a crime that I did not commit at all," she read from a
prepared statement, apparently alluding to an outburst when jurors
convicted her in May. "I felt that the trial was unfair, and I want to
prove to you and the court that I am not a monster that the news media
portrayed me to be."
As she struggled against tears, Williams said she was innocent and that her son would remain in her heart.
Williams,
who intends to appeal, was found guilty of murder and child abuse
following the death of her son, George Wilburn Jr. An emergency room
doctor described Williams as nonchalant when she and her boyfriend
brought the unresponsive boy to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital's Warren
Campus in October 2010. He had skull and rib fractures and what appeared
to be a human bite mark.
George was transferred to Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit, where he died.
Assistant
Prosecutor William Cataldo has said that Williams was an abusive mother
who became frustrated easily and used an electrical cord to beat George
and his 2-year-old brother. Defense attorney Andrea Fanning had argued
that there were other adults in the home in Warren where George was
injured, and any of them could have hurt the boy. George's brother was
placed in the care of his maternal grandmother, who also asked the judge
for mercy.
George's father, George Wilburn Sr., 21, of Taylor,
attended the sentencing and spoke about the loss of his son. He wore a
shirt with images of the boy that read, "Heaven's New Angel, Baby
George."
Three weeks before George died, Wilburn, who had
visitation with the boy, took him to Henry Ford Medical Center in
Dearborn because he seemed to be in pain when his father would try to
lift him. After hospital staff uncovered injuries to the boy's ribs,
Wilburn started the process for a review by Children's Protective
Services.
"He brought a lot of joy to me. ... I loved him. I cared for him. He put smiles on my face every day," he said of his son.
The infant's death "really took a huge part of my heart away. ... It devastated me."
http://www.freep.com/article/20120620/NEWS04/206200324/Woman-convicted-of-abusing-killing-baby-insists-she-s-not-a-monster

I think her lawyer makes a good point... there were other adults in the house... please tell me why NONE of them were charged with anything? Surely they knew what was going on and did nothing to save that poor baby!