Dad goes on trial for murder in death of 7-month-old son (Covington, Ohio)

Dad MATTHEW PYLES is now on trial for murder in the death of his 7-month-old son. Apparently, Dad has admitted on tape that he shook the baby, who died of a brain hemorrhage last August.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100413/NEWS010704/4140360/Trial+begins+in+baby+s+death

Trial begins in baby's death
By Jim Hannah • jhannah@nky.com • April 13, 2010

COVINGTON - Matthew Pyles admits to shaking his 7-month-old son, Gaige.

Pyles' attorney claims his client was just trying to arouse a response from a sick infant.

He shook Gaige while asking the fussy infant, "What's wrong? Are you OK? Are you OK?" defense lawyer Brad Fox said during the opening statements of Pyles' trial Tuesday in Kenton Circuit Court.

Fox is being assisted by lawyer J. Richard Scott.

While holding a portrait of Gaige, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Leanne Beck told jurors it wasn't a harmless jostle. She said the shaking was a homicide that has to be punished.

"Gaige didn't stand a chance in the hands of his own father," Beck said.

She is trying the case with Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Stefanie Kastner.

The 27-year-old Pyles, who has been locked up since Aug. 16, faces up to life in prison if found guilty of murder. He bowed his head and cried as Beck described the death to the jury of 10 women and four men.

Investigators claim Pyles shook the child last August at a home in the 1000 block of Peddle Creek Drive in Elsmere. Gaige died in his mother's arms after being rushed to Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Beck said.

She said Gaige died from swelling and hemorrhaging to the brain that could have only been caused by shaking.

Fox tried to cast doubt on that by telling jurors that Gaige, who had just started to crawl, had fallen off a bed while being watched by his mother earlier the same day. Fox said Gaige didn't "act quite right" after the fall but that no one took the infant to a doctor.

While giving the child a bath on the same day, Pyles also bumped Gaige's head on a linoleum floor, Fox said.

Beck told jurors any suggestion that anything but a violent shaking killed Gaige was incorrect. She said there was no external bruising on Gaige's skull that would be consistent with a fall or bump to the head.

Part of the prosecution's evidence is a taped interview in which Pyles admits to the shaking.

The trial, which could last through Thursday, is set to continue this morning in Judge Martin Sheehan courtroom.