NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — A man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for striking and causing the death of his girlfriend's four-year-old son, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Wednesday.
Jerimiah Johnson, 30, was sentenced in the death of Jayce Eubanks, after he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on April 17.
According to the investigation, at approximately 5:30 a.m. on September 12, 2021, inside the child's home, located in the Gowanus Houses on Baltic Street in Boerum, his mother, Rickia Delvalle, was awakened by Johnson, who was holding Jayce in his arms and who stated that the child said he could not breathe and had collapsed to the floor.
The mother observed that the child was not breathing and appeared completely unresponsive.
Jayce was taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy determined that Jayce had numerous old and new injuries, including multiple bruises and abrasions to his body, limbs, back, chest and abdomen.
Additionally, he had a healing skull fracture, multiple healing and recent rib fractures on both sides of the chest, trauma to the stomach causing it to perforate, causing bleeding into the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal cavity, and that the cause of death was battered child syndrome with recent blunt force injuries of the torso.
"The autopsy of this innocent child revealed that he suffered unthinkable and repeated abuse in his short life and ultimately died at the hands of this defendant," District Attorney Gonzalez said. "I am committed to protecting children in our communities from child abusers and today's sentence holds this defendant accountable."
