Man could face murder charge after attack on 2-month-old baby leads to his death at age 34
‘Double jeopardy’ defence may prevent authorities from doing so, however
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An Indiana man could be charged with murder following the death of 34-year-old who was attacked as a baby.
Authorities in Indianapolis said Patrick Mitchell died of injuries he sustained in the attack, when he was aged two months, in a news release on Monday.
Patrick, according to a reporter for CBS4 Indy and Fox59 News, lived his whole life with brain damage and was bed-ridden before his death on Saturday.
The injuries were from the assault carried out by John Coleman, who was aged 22 at the time of the attack in Indianapolis’s Shelton Heights neighbourhood.
Coleman, who was sentenced for the 1988 assault and served prison time with Indiana’s corrections department, could now be subject to murder charges for the death of Patrick, as the Kansas City Star reported.
It remains unclear however if Indianapolis police and prosecutors can charge Coleman with the higher crime with concerns that a “double jeopardy” factor may prevent authorities from doing so.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department are reportedly leading the review of Coleman’s case.
“Double jeopardy” refers to a legal defence that prevents an accused person from being tried twice, although the Marion County Coroner’s Office was said to be considering the case, as WRTV reported on Monday.
Joseph Hoffmann, a law professor from Indiana University Bloomington, told the news station the situation was “legally complex” and that “the obvious question in a case like this is ‘what is the same offense?’”
He added: “To be honest, the Indiana law of double jeopardy is a little bit in turmoil right now because the lower courts in Indiana are trying to make sense out of the new test that was declared by the Indiana Supreme Court, and it’s not 100 per cent clear how it would come out as a matter of Indiana law”.
Coleman, who was a friend of Patrick’s mother, was previously sentenced for a felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury after pleading guilty to shaking the baby, as WRTV reported at the time.