Testimony begins in ex Giants Parker's trial

[Gunzlingr]

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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[The_Philster]

Parker jury sees prints in appliance

Standing in the well of a Paterson courtroom Wednesday, a state police detective shone a flashlight into a large off-white refrigerator.

"What I was able to develop on the rear wall was a partial palm print," Detective Howard Ryan said as jurors craned their necks or walked to the appliance, which still had the dark sheen of fingerprint dust on the walls and sides.

The state argues that Jeremiah Parker, a former Giants football player, forced his girlfriend's 4-year-old son, Elijah Kelly, into the appliance as part of abuse that led to the boy's death May 14, 2001. Ryan said he could not determine who made the prints....more

[The_Philster]

Jury talks begin in trial of ex-Giant

Jurors began deciding the fate of former Giants football player Jeremiah Parker following Monday's closing arguments in his manslaughter and child abuse trial.

Summing up the state's case, Passaic County Senior Assistant Prosecutor Michael DeMarco said witnesses had shown that Parker was "in control" of the abusive events that led to the death of his girlfriend's son, 4-year-old Elijah Kelly, on May 14, 2001.

But Parker's attorney, Gerald Saluti, sought to cast doubt upon testimony by several of the state's key witnesses, including Tauleah Kelly, who admitted to lying about her involvement in her son's death as part of a plea deal, and two detectives who took the couple's statements the day Elijah entered the hospital....

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[The_Philster]

Jury weighing ex-Giant's fate meets 7 hours, asks questions

Jurors deliberated for about seven hours Tuesday without reaching a verdict in the aggravated manslaughter case against Jeremiah Parker, the former Giants football player charged in the death of his girlfriend's son.

The panel is set to continue its discussions today. In addition to aggravated manslaughter, Parker is charged with child abuse and endangerment.

Elijah Kelly, 4, died from head injuries on May 14, 2001..more

[The_Philster]

Ex-Giant is guilty, faces 10 years

Two jurors wept after a former Giants football player was convicted Thursday of endangering the welfare of his girlfriend's 4-year-old son through a litany of abuse, including belt whippings and bites.

Jeremiah Parker was acquitted of the more serious count of aggravated manslaughter in the boy's death. The state made the unusual argument that he should be convicted as an accomplice to the boy's mother, who admitted hitting her son Elijah Kelly twice in the head on May 12, 2001, the day he was hospitalized with mortal injuries. Elijah died two days later...

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