Murder charges have been filed against a Morgan County man after the weekend death of a 9-month-old baby in his care, an official with the local sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
Donald Justin Lee, 21, was arrested Saturday night and charged with cruelty to children. Charges were upgraded to felony murder on Monday, Morgan sheriff’s Capt. Christopher Bish told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Morgan deputies and paramedics went to the child’s home on Aqua Road in Madison after Lee called 911 and reported that Brantley Farmer had stopped breathing, investigators said.
Deputies said Lee, the boyfriend of Brantley’s mother, was caring for the child at the time.
At the home, Lee told police that Brantley had fallen off the couch. The severity of the baby’s head injuries made investigators suspect Lee, Bish said.
“Babies don’t usually fall off an 18-inch (high) couch and get these kind of injuries,” Bish told Channel 2.
Brantley was taken by ambulance to Morgan Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. He was taken off life support at 3:51 p.m. Sunday, according to the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office
Lee is being held at the Morgan County Public Safety Center without bond.
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