Co-sleeping on trial
Young parents whose first infant died while co-sleeping in their bed decided to test fate once again, and bring their second infant child into bed with them. The second time around didn’t prove to be any safer as the first however, as the tiny infant died of suffocation blamed on co-sleeping.
Citing the parents should have known better, they are now being charged with child abuse homicide.
WEST JORDAN - The case of two parents charged with a homicide for “co-sleeping” with their 3 1/2 -month-old baby boy will proceed to trial, a 3rd District Court judge ruled this week.
Trevor Collet Merrill and Echo J. Nielsen, both 24, are charged with third-degree felony child-abuse homicide and class B misdemeanor reckless endangerment for the Aug. 19, 2006 death of Kayson Bradley Merrill. The couple went to bed with the baby and awoke to find he was dead.
During a Jan. 1 preliminary hearing, Utah medical examiner Edward Leis testified that although he listed the baby’s cause of death as “undetermined,” the child most likely died because he was rolled onto his stomach during the night, and the face-down position obstructed his ability to breathe.
Leis testified he took into account that in 2003, the couple’s first-born child also died while co-sleeping with the parents.
Information from: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8280058
