Murrieta man acquitted of murder, guilty of assault on child who died

A Murrieta man has been acquitted of murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter, but convicted of a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The six-man, six-woman jury, however, convicted 30-year-old Ryan Christopher Mickey of committing an assault on a child that caused a death.  He faces 25 years to life on that charge.

Mickey closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the not guilty verdicts were read. In the courtroom, several members of the audience were sobbing, two people walked out of the courtroom as the second not guilty verdict was read.

When the verdict on the assault charges was announced, Mickey closed his eyes, and took a step back.

The jury had told the court it had reached verdicts on first- and second-degree charges last week, but indicated it was at an impasse on the lesser counts. Under the law, juries must find a defendant not guilty on the most serious charges before considering the less serious allegations, such as a voluntary manslaughter.

Last week, the defense requested that the murder verdicts be entered into the record, but that motion was denied. A judge also denied his request to have the jury declared hung and a mistrial declared. Judge F. Paul Dickerson III ordered the jury back to court Monday to resume deliberations.

Tuesday was the ninth day of deliberations for the jury, which over the past week has asked for readback of doctors’ testimony and clarification on what constitutes provocation in second-degree murder.

Kerianne Bradley died on Feb. 5, 2006, at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, a day after paramedics were summoned to the home that her mother shared with Mickey on Broken Arrow Way.

The San Diego County deputy medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified the child suffered head and abdominal injuries consistent with a beating.

Prosecutor Jess Walsh told the jury in his closing argument that Mickey was angered to learn his girlfriend intended to bring her husband back into her life when he got out of prison and, after drinking a beer, pummeled her child.

Walsh rejected a defense argument that the toddler had been injured earlier in the week or had a pre-existing condition that led to cardiac arrest.

Bur defense attorney James Brown argued that the baby stopped breathing because of some other injury or illness, and that Mickey inflicted other injuries while trying to resuscitate her.

Brown told jurors the child’s own mother did not take proper care of her and refused to fill her prescriptions.

The day the girl stopped breathing, his client had taken the toddler home, bathed and dressed her and then noticed her gasping for air and wheezing, Brown said.

He said Mickey called the child’s mother to ask where to find her daughter’s inhaler — which she had for a pre-existing condition — and she hung up on him, so he called 911.

Tags: Judge F. Paul Dickerson III, Kerianne Bradley, Murrieta, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego, Ryan Christpher Mickey, Southwest Detention Center, SWRNN

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 11:38 am and is filed under Courts, Crime, Local News, News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.