5-Month-Old Baby Dies From Fractured Skull, Broken Ribs; Mother And Her Boyfriend Arrested

A young mother and her boyfriend were arrested after the woman's 5-month-old son died from a fractured skull, broken ribs and a shattered leg.

The New Orleans Police Department identified the two accused as Lashtonay Powell, 19, and Jacques Miller, 22. Earlier this week, Miller brought the 5-month-old boy, Marques Powell, to New Orleans East Hospital to be treated for a seizure, NOLA.com reported.

During the treatment, doctors noticed the child had unrelated facial injuries. Marques was transferred to Children’s Hospital where he was placed on life support. The hospital staff reportedly said the child's injuries included a fractured skull, brain swelling, a broken tibia, a broken clavicle and five broken ribs, three of which were healing.

Powell and Miller were booked with cruelty to juvenile at the time. However, investigators upgraded the charges to second-degree murder after Marques died Wednesday.

An autopsy was conducted on the baby, which revealed the cause of death to be blunt force trauma intentionally inflicted on him by someone else, the police wrote in criminal court records, NOLA.com reported.

Magistrate Court Commissioner Jonathan Friedman ordered both Powell and Miller be held with a bail bond of $350,000, Radio.com reported. If convicted, both could face mandatory life imprisonment.

In a bail hearing Thursday, attorneys for Powell and Miller said authorities failed to prove the defendants caused the wounds on Marques. Powell told the police her child was injured after falling to the ground from his car seat.

Public defender Nicholas Elefante, who was representing Powell, said there was no evidence Marques’ mother injured him.

Last month in South Carolina, a couple was arrested after their 3-month-old twins were hospitalized with severe injuries including skull fractures and bite marks. The two accused were identified as 31-year-old Kentovian White and 23-year-old Jessica Mills. Both were charged with two counts of inflicting great bodily injury upon a child. The police learned about the incident after one of the twins was hospitalized in Charlotte with injuries consistent with the abuse. The infant’s twin sister was traced and the police found signs of new and old injuries on her body.