Toledo man who shared apartment with Amanda Bacon testifies in her murder trial

4/10/2014

A Toledo man who said he shared his apartment with Amanda Bacon in exchange for sex testified today that he returned home on the evening of Dec. 16, 2012, to hear Ms. Bacon screaming. And then, he said, he watched as she tossed her infant son to the floor.

"I seen the baby leave her arms," Frank Jones told the jury in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. "...It just tripped me out. I was like, wow, puzzled. I ran toward her but by the time I got to her, she'd already picked him up."

Ms. Bacon, 26, of 504 W. Alexis Rd., is on trial for aggravated murder, murder, and endangering children for the death of her 6-month-old son, Avery. Prosecutors say she bashed the child's head twice, fracturing his skull so severely that he died two days later at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Her defense attorneys are expected to argue that Mr. Jones - not Ms. Bacon - hurt the child.

Spiros Cocoves, who represents Ms. Bacon, asked Mr. Jones repeatedly whether Ms. Bacon came home at all between the time she left the apartment about 8:30 a.m. and the time they took Avery to Mercy St. Anne Hospital some time after midnight.

Mr. Jones said she had not been back, that after the incident in which she threw her baby, she took his cell phone and left the apartment. He testified he watched television while Avery was in his car seat, and later took the infant to a grocery store. He then called Ms. Bacon to tell her to get home right away because he noticed the child's head swelling.

"When she got home I told her we've got to get this baby to the [expletive] hospital," Mr. Jones said. "She was all cheery. 'Let's go'."

On the drive to the hospital, he said that she told him repeatedly that she had messed up.

Under questioning by Frank Spryszak, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, Mr. Jones admitted he initially lied to police about what happened that night.

"I cared for her at the time," he said. "It was just a stupid thing on my part, but I wasn't totally honest with them. I didn't want to see her get hurt."