Custodial dad, son both face death penalty for murder of children (Walnut Hills, Ohio)

We just posted on this case this week. Still no real explanation coming forth from the media as to how and why dad CHRISTOPHER DANGERFIELD was able to get custody of his 3-year-old son. And who the persons were who basically set up this child's murder.

Based on similar "internal investigations" I've seen in Michigan and Pennsylvania, the final report will deem the affair "inconclusive," with the report itself being quickly sealed from public review.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110106/NEWS010702/101070331/Father-son-face-death-penalty

Father, son face death penalty cases
By Eileen Kelley • ekelley@enquirer.com • January 6, 2011

Accused of murder within just months of one another, a Cincinnati father and son both face the death penalty for killing children they were supposed to be caring for.

On Thursday, a Hamilton County grand jury returned a death-penalty murder indictment against 48-year-old Christopher Dangerfield of Walnut Hills.

The indictment charges him with aggravated murder, child endangering and other charges for the death of his 3-year-old son, Tyrese Short.

Dangerfield had recently been awarded custody of Tyrese.

In June, a death-penalty indictment was handed down on Dangerfield's elder son, Lionell Dangerfield, charging the 26-year-old with aggravated murder and felonious assault for the death of his girlfriend's 3-month-old baby, Zhi Merah Binford.

Both children died of blunt-force trauma: Tyrese after a severe blow to the stomach and Zhi after her skull was fractured, her brain injured and her ribs broken.

"It is horrifying to think about how this young child lived and died," said Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters in a statement announcing the death-penalty indictment of Christopher Dangerfield.

"I am disgusted that a father and son both face the death penalty for the separate murders of two young children."

There are 31 men on Ohio's Death Row for Hamilton County murder convictions, the most of any county. Statewide, there are 157 inmates on death row.

A Hamilton County coroner's report revealed Tyrese had previous injuries, including rib fractures, burns to his face and forearm and a fractured leg. Tyrese recently had told a day-care worker that his father had punched him in the stomach, police said.

On Dec. 28, Tyrese's father called 911 and told dispatchers that his son had been jumped by some boys at a corner store down the street in Walnut Hills. He said Tyrese was having a hard time keeping his eyes open and breathing.

Tyrese was pronounced dead soon after at Cincinnati's Children's Hospital and Medical Center.

The following day, when Dangerfield appeared in a courtroom at the Hamilton County Justice Center, he suggested that Tyrese fell in the bathtub.

Since birth, Tyrese had been monitored by the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services. A caseworker had visited with him within a month of his death, according to Brian Gregg, a spokesman for the department.

Tyrese's death has set off an internal investigation within the department to determine if the county agency failed by placing Tyrese with Dangerfield or if the workers failed to adequately check on his well-being, among other things.

The investigation is ongoing.

Tyrese's funeral will be held Tuesday at a Walnut Hills church.

Lionell Dangerfield's trial could begin as early as June, according to court records.

The announcement of the death-penalty indictment against Christopher Dangerfield came just hours after a tiny white casket with the body of another child who had been monitored by the child-welfare agency was placed into the ground at Spring Grove Cemetery.

Savon Edwards lived in a vegetative state for two years before dying Dec. 27. His father, Ricky Edwards, is serving an eight-year sentence for shaking Savon so violently that he stopped breathing. He was just 3 months old at the time. Edwards could face stiffer charges now that Savon has died.