PATERSON, N.J. (AP) -- Just weeks before her 4-year-old son died, the ex-girlfriend of former New York Giants player Jeremiah Parker told a child welfare worker that she was concerned about losing custody of the boy.
Simone Sealy, one of two Division of Youth and Family Services staffers who testified Tuesday at Parker's aggravated manslaughter trial, said Tauleah Kelly made the comments while her son, Elijah, was being treated for at a Paterson hospital for a head injury.
Prosecutors claim Parker, 25, was a cruel abuser who, along with Kelly, often beat Elijah, and they blame the couple for his death. However, both Kelly and Parker say the other is responsible for the abuse that led to Elijah's death on May 14, 2001, two days after Parker rushed him to the hospital.
An autopsy found multiple bite marks and a broken rib and determined that the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head that had been inflicted over time. Kelly -- who admitted hitting her son two days before he died -- pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter and child endangerment in return for a seven-year prison term and her promise to testify against Parker. She could have faced 30 years.
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Simone Sealy, one of two Division of Youth and Family Services staffers who testified Tuesday at Parker's aggravated manslaughter trial, said Tauleah Kelly made the comments while her son, Elijah, was being treated for at a Paterson hospital for a head injury.
Prosecutors claim Parker, 25, was a cruel abuser who, along with Kelly, often beat Elijah, and they blame the couple for his death. However, both Kelly and Parker say the other is responsible for the abuse that led to Elijah's death on May 14, 2001, two days after Parker rushed him to the hospital.
An autopsy found multiple bite marks and a broken rib and determined that the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head that had been inflicted over time. Kelly -- who admitted hitting her son two days before he died -- pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter and child endangerment in return for a seven-year prison term and her promise to testify against Parker. She could have faced 30 years.
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