A Vancouver man pleaded guilty Friday to killing his 1-month old son by throwing him several feet onto a changing table.
David M. Redmond, 25, entered a guilty plea to second-degree domestic violence murder, a lesser charge than the first-degree murder charge he originally faced for the October 2014 crime.
He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge David Gregerson on March 25.
Redmond originally told authorities that he had been napping with his son, Everett, on Oct. 15, 2014, and rolled over on him accidentally, according to a probable cause affidavit.
When the infant became unresponsive later that night, Redmond woke up his wife, Ashley, and told her that Everett wasn’t breathing well, Vancouver police Detective Jason Hafer wrote in the affidavit.
Ashley Redmond started CPR on the baby, while David Redmond called 911, Hafer wrote.
Everett was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, then transferred to Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. He was kept alive with machines for a period of time before he died, Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes said on Friday.
Dr. Dan Leonhardt, a physician at the children’s hospital, said that Everett had suffered a large skull fracture with soft tissue swelling. He had bleeding inside his skull and hemorrhaging in his eyes that extended all the way out to the periphery, according to the affidavit.
“In his opinion, this injury couldn’t have been caused by shaking alone and that it clearly involved blunt-force trauma,” Hafer wrote.
Leonhardt also said that the injuries could not have been caused by the father and child napping together, court records show.
Then, Redmond’s story changed. He told police that he had just returned to the family’s Maplewood neighborhood home from work on Oct. 15 when he threw his infant son because he was being fussy, court documents said.
“David said he was frustrated with this, so he dropped Everett onto his changing table, causing Everett to bump his head on the wooden rail,” Hafer wrote. “Everett paused for a second with his mouth open, then started crying a high-pitched noise.”
Ashley Redmond may have been at the gym at the time, according to court documents.
David Redmond later confessed that he had actually lifted the infant over his head and threw him from a bed to the changing table, a distance of 7 to 9 feet, Hayes said. Everett weighed about 6 pounds, he said.
Redmond allegedly confessed that he had abused Everett at other times during the infant’s brief life. He said he forced Everett’s mouth shut at the jaw to try to stop him from crying, squeezed him, threw him onto the bed and threw him against a couch, causing the baby to fall onto the floor, according to court documents. He also spanked Everett when he was 1 week old, court documents say.
Redmond was convicted of criminal mischief in Oregon five years ago but has no other criminal history, Hayes said. He has been held without bail in the Clark County Jail since he was arrested.
