An Arkansas man was charged Wednesday in the death of his 2-month-old son who was admitted to a hospital with severe brain trauma in November, officials said.
Jason Todd Lewellen, 42, of Hensley is currently being held at the Saline County jail on a charge of capital murder.
According to online court records, Lewellen and his wife, Lesley Bridges, brought their baby to the Arkansas Children's Hospital on Nov. 11 around 1 p.m. after his wife said the child fell from a recliner in their living room.
Bridges told Dr. Karen Farst that she awoke to the baby's crying around 3 a.m. that morning, and she asked Lewellen to help feed him and change his diaper. Bridges said she sat the infant on a reclining chair while Lewellen prepared a bottle and she got diapers from the bedroom, records show.
Bridges told Farst that while she was in the bedroom she heard a "thump" and ran into the living room to see her child face down on the floor, crying.
Bridges told the doctor he seemed "OK," and she consoled him until he fell asleep, according to the document. But later that day, she thought he was not acting like himself, appearing lethargic and making odd movements with his arms, so she and Lewellen brought him to the hospital.
Farst told investigators that the severe brain trauma the baby suffered did not match his mother's description of events.
According to the document, the child had three places of impact on his head and face, with bruising and swelling on the left side of the back of his head, his forehead and his right ear. He suffered trauma to both lobes of the brain and an abrasion on his neck, and there was patterned bruising on his legs, among other injuries, Farst noted.
At that time, the baby was given a 50/50 prognosis and was put on life support, the document states. The infant died five days later on Nov. 16 around 7 a.m., said Saline County prosecutor Rebecca Bush.
Farst also told investigators that Lewellen dropped Bridges and his son off at the hospital, then left, records show. He was arrested the next day on counts of first-degree domestic battery and aggravated assault on a family member, which have been elevated to capital murder, records show.
A court date is scheduled for Jan. 10.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
