Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Dad accused of punching, killing 2-week-old son won't face death penalty (High Point, North Carolina)

Another killer dad gets a break. Dad BRIAN JACK FRAZIER has allegedly confessed to punching the baby in the face because he cried while Daddy was playing his precious video games. Why mom is in jail is not really explained. Maybe another one of those cases where authorities assume that all moms have Magical Mommy powers that allow you to stop an enraged young male?

http://www.hpe.com/news/x383680754/Father-accused-of-punching-killing-baby-won-t-face-death-penalty

Father accused of punching, killing baby won’t face death penalty

May. 08, 2013 @ 10:31 AM Chanel Davis

HIGH POINT — A High Point man who police say killed his 2 -week-old son, after punching the baby in the face in an attempt to get him to be quiet, will not face the death penalty.

“There is not an aggravating factor in the case,” said High Point District Attorney Walt Jones during a Tuesday hearing on the case. “You just can’t ask for the death penalty in any first-degree murder case. You have to have an aggravating factor defined by statute, which means like a prior conviction, more than one person injured or against law enforcement, for example. None of those factors were available for this case.”

Brian Jack Frazier, 20, walked into the courtroom Tuesday in ankle and waist cuffs in a red jumpsuit. He listened while his lawyer, Dan Dolan, assistant capital defender, spoke to him, but never addressed the court.

Frazier is being held without bond on a charge of first-degree murder. The infant’s mother, Stefany Renee Ash, 20, is still in jail under a $1 million bond on a charge of first-degree murder and accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.

High Point police charged the parents of 2-week-old Khan Frazier after his lifeless body was found in the bassinet in the bedroom at a home on Kimery Drive in east High Point. The couple lived there with their two children and Ash’s father.

Prosecutors have said Frazier confessed his role in Khan’s death to detectives, detailing in a statement how he “snapped” and punched the baby in the face after the child cried while he was playing video games.

Authorities said Ash initially told detectives she found the baby unresponsive and was unaware of what happened to Khan. They said they later learned that the couple planned how to cover up the homicide for hours, possibly by hiding the body and claiming that the boy had been kidnapped.

The Guilford County Department of Social Services reportedly visited the home prior to the death of the infant boy.

The couple’s 15-month-old son, Kane Frazier, has been removed by child protective services and taken to Brenner’s Children Hospital in Winston-Salem.

Trial dates have not been set for the couple.

“We do not have a full-fledge report back from the medical examiner’s office yet, so we are not going to be able to proceed until we get the documents,” Jones said. “As soon as the medical examiner gets the blood tests back, we will be scheduling something after all that gets back in.”