INVISIBLE MOTHER ALERT: And while Daddy was caretaking, where was Mom? Working? What?
http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/final-8714-arguments-hears.html
Jury hears final arguments in baby death case
June 21, 2010 4:55 PM
By Aaron Dome, staff writer
BARSTOW • The fate of a 22-year-old Fort Irwin soldier accused of abusing his infant son to death now rests with a jury.
Segieray Cooper, 22, is charged with second degree murder and child abuse resulting in the 2007 death of his 7-month-old son, Segieray Cooper Jr. A previous three-month long trial in 2009 resulted in a hung jury. The 12-person jury deliberated for five days in the previous trial and split six to six.
Authorities determined that Cooper’s son died as a result of blunt trauma to the head and abdominal area.
In his closing arguments Monday, Deputy District attorney Sean Daugherty told a jury that testimony from numerous doctors makes it plain that Cooper violently shook and punched his son causing his death.
“Four medical professionals told you that (bruises on the infant’s body) were textbook knuckle bruises,” said Daugherty.
Daugherty said that no one else was in Cooper’s apartment after Cooper’s friend reported seeing the baby healthy and before Cooper went to a neighbor for help, and that Cooper is the only person who cold have been responsible for the alleged abuse.
“If (Cooper) didn’t do it, either Spider-man flew in or (Cooper) is the unluckiest man in the world,” said Daugherty.
Daugherty also said that Cooper lied about shaking the baby repeatedly in attempts to save himself from prison, and that anyone who was trying to help their child would have told the truth from the start.
Cooper’s court-appointed attorney, Paul Henderson, said that Cooper found his son unresponsive and shook him in an attempt to revive him, and that bruises found on the infant Cooper’s body were caused by his father’s attempted CPR.
Henderson said that Cooper was a “scared 19-year-old soldier” who lied because he didn’t know what was going to happen to him.
“Did he push and shake? Yes,” said Henderson. “Did he push and shake a wrong part? Yes. It was an accident.”
Henderson said that if Cooper is guilty of anything, it is involuntary manslaughter.
In Daugherty’s rebuttal, he said that no reasonable person would cause the injuries that were found on the infant Cooper’s in an attempt to revive him.
“You have heard a mound of testimony,’ said Daugherty. “All of the doctors who testified said that these injuries were not the result of a reasonable attempt to resuscitate this child.”
If convicted, Cooper could face 25 years to life in prison.