MACOMB COUNTY (WWJ) - A Macomb County man faces life in prison for the 2017 murder of a young child after a guilty verdict was reached by a jury on Friday.
The jury took just shy of three days to deliberate, according to the Macomb Daily, but ultimately found 28-year-old Jonathon Jones guilty of first degree murder and child abuse in the death of Ivy Yurkus, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend; he is expected to be given a life sentence without the possibility of parole next month.
Prosecutors told the jurors that Jones was responsible for inflicting fatal blows to Yurkus' stomach on May 3, 2017 while she was in his care; they said Jones brutally attacked the girl, hitting her repeatedly before she became unresponsive.
According to police reports, the girl's mother had dropped her off for Jones to watch while she went to her shift at a Roseville restaurant. She had barely arrived to work when Jones showed up with her unconscious daughter.
They rushed her to Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit where the girl died 14 hours later of suspicious injuries to her abdomen which doctors attributed to blunt force trauma.
Doctors said the girl's injuries were so severe, the main vein in Ivy’s abdomen was completely severed and an abdominal artery was also damaged.
Their reports were consistent with over a dozen abdominal injuries a Wayne County medical examiner found while performing an autopsy on Yurkus.
Jones’ attorneys, backed by another medical examiner, argued the girl's injuries were sustained from one of several accidents from the week before. They said the child died of a slow bleed that they suspected was accelerated while Yurkus was hospitalized.
Testimony from Yurkus' brother, who was seven years old at the time and in the home when Jones attacked his sister, was requested by the jury on Thursday.
A recorded testimony given by Yurkus' mother, Amanda, was also given to the jury.
Authorities said they arrested Jones about seven months after the girl's death. His trial, which was delayed several times, saw his bond reduced from $500,000 to only $125,000.
Jones posted bail in September of 2020 and released.