Dad convicted of beating 4-week-old son to death; says he wasn't "emotionally ready" to be a father (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Thank goodness the judge didn't buy the nonsense about dad TYLER COGGINS SR. not being "emotionally ready" to be a father, so he was "frustrated." The cold hard facts: Daddy fractured the skull of his 4-week old son in TWO different places, which lead to a fatal brain bleed. Seems Daddy will be serving a maximum of 15 years in prison for his "frustration".

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100204/NEWS010701/2050349/Father+convicted+of+killing+infant+son

Father convicted of killing infant son
By Kimball Perry
February 4, 2010

Tyler Coggins Sr., charged with beating his 4-week-old son to death, took the stand Thursday to say he never meant to hurt his son, but a judge deemed the scientific evidence overwhelming proof of the young father's brutality and convicted him of murder and felonious assault.

"He got so angry that he punched his son with such force that he fractured his baby's head in two different places," Assistant Prosecutor Katie Burroughs told Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge John "Skip" West, who heard the case without a jury.

Coggins' attorney, Hugh McCloskey Jr., admitted his client hit infant Terrell Coggins and killed him but tried to convince the judge Coggins didn't intend to kill.

"It was an impulse. It was a reaction," McCloskey said. "He's not here saying he's not guilty. All he is saying is 'I did not murder my son.'"

The judge, though, disagreed, making his decision immediately after closing arguments Thursday.

West said he was particularly impressed by the testimony of Dr. William Ralston, chief deputy coroner who did the autopsy on the infant.

Ralston testified the infant had four separate areas of bleeding on the brain, events that couldn't be caused by a single event or hit. He said those injuries couldn't have happened in a fall or from a slap, that the child likely was unconscious within seconds of being hit and thrown to the bed and dead within minutes.

Burroughs seemed particularly bothered that Coggins tried to blame his actions on frustrations of being a father of two at age 19 and not getting along with his girlfriend, Nadia Alexander.

"We don't toss newborns around like footballs," Burroughs said. "Enough excuses for this man. This is not a child. He is an adult."

Coggins and Alexander, who started dating while seniors at Withrow High, became parents Feb. 6, 2008, with the birth of Tyler Coggins Jr. Their second child was born 10½ months later, even though Coggins asked Alexander to abort the second baby or place him in foster care.

"Emotionally, he was not ready to be a father," McCloskey said.

When Coggins is sentenced March 24, West can send him to prison for a maximum of 15 years to life.