Bacon found guilty in death of son

Mother of 6-month-old boy convicted of murder, child endangering

Amanda Bacon, center, cries as she is led away after a jury found her guilty on charges of murder and child endangerment on today at the Lucas County Courthouse in downtown Toledo.

A Toledo woman who prosecutors alleged had smashed her infant son’s head against a hard surface so forcefully his skull was irreparably fractured was found guilty in his death today.

A jury of nine men and three woman deliberated more than 13 hours over three days before returning its verdict against Amanda Bacon in Lucas County Common Pleas Court just after noon today.

Bacon, 26, of 504 W. Alexis Rd., was found guilty of murder, and endangering children in the Dec. 18, 2012 death of her 6-month-old son, Avery Glynn Bacon. She was acquitted of the more serious charge of aggravated murder.

The baby’s mother, who has been held in the Lucas County jail since his death, took the witness stand Tuesday, tearfully denying that she ever hurt Avery or her older son, who she does not have custody of.

She told the jury that she had worked as a prostitute but insisted it was Frank Jones – the man with whom she lived – who forced her to prostitute herself. She also said it was Mr. Jones who hurt Avery -- that he was alone with her son the night of Dec. 16, 2012.

Bacon claimed she’d gone out for a walk, taking Mr. Jones’s cell phone and looking for business, and when she returned to the apartment shortly after 10 p.m., she noticed a bump on Avery’s head and bruising around his ears. Still, she admitted, she left again at 10:30 a.m. to meet a client to go to the Happy Day Hotel just across the state line in Michigan, where she had sex with a man for $60.

Mr. Jones testified that he had taken Avery to Kroger with him to buy some chicken and then to use the phone to call Bacon, telling her to get home right away, that something wasn’t right with the baby and they needed to get him to the hospital.

The pair took the baby to the hospital about 12:30 p.m., telling medical personnel a series of lies about how Avery’s injuries occurred.

Defense attorneys focused on Mr. Jones as a key suspect and claimed Toledo police became “married” to the theory that Bacon killed her son and then ignored evidence that suggested otherwise.

Among the witnesses they called to the stand was Peggy Monroe, a former Toledo woman who testified that when she lived with Mr. Jones in 2003 he allegedly tossed her son to the floor, injuring him. Mr. Jones was never charged in connection with the incident.