PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia man who withdrew a guilty plea for killing a baby years ago has now been found guilty of third-degree murder by a jury.
James Shedrick threw up his hands, shook his head and yelled “What?” as the jury read aloud that he was guilty of third-degree murder and related offenses in the beating death of 20-month-old Isaiah McNeil in 2018.
The baby was declared dead at the hospital, after prosecutors say his mother came home, found the baby unconscious and called police who rushed the mother and child to the hospital.
Prosecutors alleged Shedrick, the mother’s boyfriend, beat the baby while he bathed him in the bathtub — and when police arrived, he left the three other young children at the home by themselves.
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Jurors heard a taped interview from his 8-year-old brother who said Shedrick would whip both him and the baby with a belt sometimes, and that on the night of Aug. 20, 2018, he heard the baby repeatedly screaming, and also repeatedly heard Shedrick yelling for the baby to ‘shut up.”
Prosecutors say the boy’s liver, pancreas and aorta were lacerated. The boy’s small body was bruised and contused. The child died of his injuries.
Shedrick pleaded guilty in 2019 to third-degree murder charges, and then about a week later asked the judge to withdraw his plea - which the judge agreed to because of legal technicalities. Because of the pandemic, the trial was pushed to this year.
Shedrick remains behind bars and will be sentenced in January. He faces decades in prison.