Dad charged with 1st-degree murder in death of 3-month-old daughter (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

Dad is identified as JOHN WILLIAM HOPE.

http://theadvocate.com/news/13151635-123/baton-rouge-police-detectives-accuse

Baton Rouge police detectives accuse father of first-degree murder in the death of 3-month-old daughter
Advocate staff report
Aug. 12, 2015     

The father of a 3-month-old baby who died Saturday from blunt-force trauma has been booked on a count of murder, Baton Rouge police said Tuesday.

Police detectives upgraded the count filed against John William Hope, 28, from second-degree cruelty to a juvenile to first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, Josephine Hope, said Cpl. Don Coppola, a police spokesman.

An autopsy conducted Monday resulted in East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. Beau Clark determining the baby’s death was a homicide.

The staff at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center contacted police Wednesday morning to report that Hope had brought in Josephine with life-threatening injuries — three skull fractures, multiple rib fractures, face and neck bruising, a bloody mouth and bloodshot eyes, according to police reports.

The baby was in critical condition Friday with no brain activity. She died Saturday.

Hope and the baby’s mother, Christine Hope, told doctors their daughter had fallen off a changing table, but emergency room staff said the child’s injuries did not align with the parents’ story, the report says.

“Injuries around the (child’s) neck were consistent with someone grabbing the baby by the neck,” the report says.

The father told police he left the baby on a changing table about 8 a.m. Wednesday while going to get a bottle. After he left the room, he heard a crash and walked back in to find Josephine on the floor, he told police.

He told Christine Hope the same story, and the couple took the baby to the hospital.

Hope also told police a knot on the baby’s head was caused earlier that morning when the baby head-butted him, but he had no explanation for the marks around her neck, the report says. Christine Hope said Josephine had no marks on her before going to sleep the night before.

Hope could face formal murder charges in her death, District Attorney Hillar Moore III said Monday, adding the decision to charge Hope will be left up to a grand jury.

“I anticipate second-degree murder would be an appropriate charge,” he said. “It’ll be some time before it gets to the grand jury because we have other cases before it.”