Hearing looks into dad's role in death of 4-month-old son (Stockton, California)

Dad is identified as DONALD WILSON. Yet another daddy who was minding the baby while Mom was working.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120125/A_NEWS/201250323/-1/NEWSMAP

Hearing looks into dad's role in infant's death
By Jennie Rodriguez-Moore
Record Staff Writer
January 25, 2012 12:00 AM

STOCKTON - An infant unexpectedly dies under his father's watch.

The child's medical history shows the 4-month-old had been plagued by sicknesses, including a bout of pneumonia around the time of death.

But physicians' opinions indicate a more sinister cause of death.

Donald Wilson, 23, is accused of killing his son, and doctors said the baby had sustained brain damage likely caused by shaking or an impact.

A preliminary hearing began Tuesday for Wilson, who is charged with child abuse resulting in death. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Brandon is the second child fatality of 2011 reported by San Joaquin County Child Protective Services.

The other was a 3-year-old named Noah Morgan, whose stepfather, Joe Anthony Correia of Escalon, has been charged with the death.

According to courtroom testimony, Donald Wilson called for emergency help Aug. 1, when Brandon stopped breathing in a choking episode. The father had been watching the baby that day while the mother worked.
The following day, the baby was transported out of San Joaquin General Hospital to a children's intensive care facility.

Brandon was comatose and was placed on a ventilator, said Dr. Angela Rosas, a pediatric specialist in child abuse and neglect with Sacramento-based Sutter Medical Group. He was completely unresponsive, Rosas said.

Doctors ran a battery of tests on Brandon and then determined he had bleeding in the brain and had sustained abusive head trauma.

San Joaquin County medical examiners concluded the cause of death to be diffused axonal injury, which indicates the damage spread throughout the brain.

Donald Wilson's lawyer, Pittsburg defense attorney Carin Johnson, raises the question whether Brandon's death was caused by ongoing illness.

San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Humphreys is presiding over the preliminary hearing, expected to last more than two days, and will decide whether there is enough evidence to send Donald Wilson to trial.