Mom accused of killing baby blames her live-in
4/16/2014The Toledo woman accused of murder in the death of her 6-month-old son took the stand Tuesday, blaming his injuries on the man with whom she lived.
“I didn’t bash my son’s skull,” Amanda Bacon replied angrily under cross-examination by Frank Spryszak, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor.
Ms. Bacon, 26, of 504 W. Alexis Rd. kept her eyes trained on the jury and cried as she explained that she had been living with Frank Jones, who forced her to have sex with him and to prostitute herself.
On Dec. 16, 2012, the night her son, Avery, was injured, Ms. Bacon said Mr. Jones told her to go out and make some money so she took his cell phone and went for a walk about 9:45 p.m. Ms. Bacon said she returned to the apartment about 10:10 p.m. and heard her son, Avery, crying “a little bit” in the bedroom.
She said when she went to get him, she saw a bump on the infant’s head and bruising around his ears. Ms. Bacon said Mr. Jones told her he didn’t know what had happened because he’d fallen asleep, that perhaps Avery had fallen off the bed.
Ms. Bacon, who is charged with aggravated murder, murder, and endangering children, testified that she asked Mr. Jones to take her baby to the hospital because she had a warrant out for her arrest. She then left to meet a customer whom she later had sex with at a hotel for $60.
When she returned about midnight, she said, Avery’s “head was more swollen and he wasn’t breathing.” She and Mr. Jones took Avery to St. Anne’s Hospital “within 10 minutes,” though she never called 911.
Mr. Jones previously testified that he came home about 8:30 p.m. that night, heard Ms. Bacon screaming, and walked in to the apartment to see her throw her son to the floor.
Prosecutors say the baby was pronounced dead Dec. 18, 2012, after suffering two major injuries to his skull.