Dad charged with felony murder in death of 10-week-old son (Lawrenceville, Georgia)

Poor mom. She's the mother of 10-week-old baby, forced to work the night shift. This is inhumane, the way mothers and infants are treated. Inadequate or non-existent paid maternity leaves. Forced to rely on violent men to do infant caregiving. And this is what happens so often....

Dad is identified as KELVIN ODOM.

http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2015/sep/10/lawrenceville-father-charged-with-murder-in/

Lawrenceville father charged with murder in infant’s death
By Joshua Sharpe Thursday, September 10, 2015 Gwinnett Daily Post

Police are now calling 10-week-old Justice Odom’s death a murder.

They have charged his father, Kelvin Odom, 50, of Lawrenceville with felony murder, on top of the cruelty to children count he was initially given before the child died Sunday. The decision came after the medical examiner’s office found that the baby’s head injuries weren’t “consistent with the story the suspect has given us,” said Cpl. Michele Pihera, spokeswoman for Gwinnett County police.

The story is that the child fell off the couch last Wednesday morning.

Some are coming to the defense of Odom, who is a boxing instructor.

Andrea Muresan, who said she is a sergeant in the U.S. Army, told the Daily Post in an email she has known the man through boxing for more than six years and that he “is not only a great guy, but a great father.”

“We are very close and all I can say coach loves his children more than anything in this world. He is a positive face to the community,” she said. “I’m not here to take sides because a 10-week-old just passed away due to serious head injuries, and I have a 10-week-old myself…”

Yet, she said she can’t imagine Odom is capable of hurting the boy. # Warrants against Odom, however, say he acted maliciously toward the infant.

Police and firefighters were called to the Odom apartment at the Water Vista complex off Club Drive last Wednesday morning at about 4:30 a.m. in response to a call saying Justice wasn’t breathing. By the time they arrived, the child was reportedly breathing and appeared normal.

Odom declined to send him to the hospital, police said.

At about 7:40 a.m., the child’s mother came home from work and noticed the child having “breathing problems and altered color,” police said.

Later, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, police reportedly learned that Justice had a fractured skull and closed head trauma.

Odom, with a tattoo of a boxing glove and “KO” on his bicep, was booked into the Gwinnett County jail last Thursday morning at 3 a.m and remains held without bond.