Custodial dad pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder in death of 2-year-old son; dad had received custody just ONE MONTH before murder (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Maybe Mom wasn't a candidate for Mother of the Year. But why was dad given custody instead of somebody else? Notice that he was hardly a saint either as a habitual offender (we're not told for what).

Dad is identified as BRIAN ROBERTS.

http://woodtv.com/2015/01/15/father-pleads-guilty-to-murder-of-boy-2/

Father pleads guilty to murder of boy, 2

By 24 Hour News 8 web staff

Published: January 15, 2015, 7:04 pm

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — A Kalamazoo man has entered a plea agreement in the death of his 2-year-old son early last year.

Thursday, Brian Roberts pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as a third-time habitual offender. Under the terms of a plea agreement, charges of open murder, which would have carried a mandatory life sentence, and first-degree child abuse were dropped.

Roberts was charged in May of 2014 in the death of his son Nehemiah Dodd, 2. Nehemiah was initially hospitalized on Dec. 31, 2013 and died several days later. Autopsy results led police to believe he had been shaken before his death.

Only a month before his death, the toddler was sent to live with his father after his mother was found driving a stolen car with cocaine and her two sons in the vehicle.