Man Beats Six-Year Old Stepson To Death

[General Mung Beans]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crim ... z1fGXNRXWl

Murder defendant told police he punched child who died in Cahokia

BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR


BELLEVILLE • When 6-year-old Ryon Smith wasn't locked in his mother's closet inside her Cahokia home, he was being beaten by her live-in boyfriend, prosecutors told a jury today.

Ryon was found dead with bruises and abrasions covering his body on Christmas Day 2005, they said, opening their first-degree murder case in St. Clair County Circuit Court here against that boyfriend, Lee Crutchfield.

In a video interrogation played in court, Crutchfield at first repeatedly told police he "had no dealings with Ryon" in the days before the death. Then, a fuller picture emerged.

Crutchfield described how Ryon was a difficult child who often hurled racial insults at him. Crutchfield is black, the boy's mother is white.

"I can't stand to be around a child that is disrespectful," Crutchfield told police.

He alleged that the boy would fake seizures and urinate all over the house. The boy was given a diaper and often locked in a closet, police said.

Crutchfield said he punched Ryon twice in the head because the boy was biting his finger about two days before he was found dead.

Ryon died from blunt force trauma, prosecutors said. A former Cahokia police officer broke down crying in court when shown a photo of the dead child.

The boy's mother, Starr Lohman, also is charged with first-degree murder but is reported to have reached an agreement for a reduced charge in return for testifying against Crutchfield.

Thomas Keefe III, Crutchfield's attorney, said police descriptions of the boy being covered with bruises is inaccurate.

"It wasn't bruising. It was decomposition," Keefe said.

Keefe said his client is not guilty and that the boy's mother has credibility problems.

[Raw Shark]

The title is inaccurate: Lee Crutchfield and Starr Lohman were, in addition to being named like Tom Waits characters, (perhaps unsurprisingly) not married according to the article.

Is six years a normal length of time for something like this to come to trial?

[Mayabird]

Mung Beans, you're posting stories again with absolutely no input on it again, as you have already been told not to do. Why are you posting some example of trashy people and their crimes? Is this some sort of condemnation against society? Are you just trying to feel self-righteous about something? The only thing that stood out to me was the six year wait, which Raw Shark already noted. We generally don't even like True Crimes stuff being posted because there's nothing to say about it except internet tuff guy escalation. If you actually have a genuine question, ask it and don't make us have to use our non-existent psychic powers to divine it and do all your work for you.