LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR BRONX FATHER WHO BRUTALLY BEAT HIS FIVE WEEK OLD SON TO DEATH AT A SHELTER FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES IN DECEMBER 2003

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that Michael Williams has been sentenced to a term of up to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his newborn son in December 2003.

Williams, 25, was convicted of Murder in the 2nd degree, in a manner evincing a depraved indifference to human life, in the death of Michael Williams Jr. Williams was found guilty last month on December 14, 2006. State Supreme Court Justice Megan Tallmer imposed the maximum sentence allowed by law, 25 years to life imprisonment.

The murdered infant was born on October 28, 2003 and had been physically abused by the defendant for all five weeks of its short life. The abuse included an incident in which the defendant grabbed the baby by the neck and slammed his tiny head and body into the crib numerous times causing traumatic brain injury. The infant, who died after being taken to Lincoln Hospital, also had 12 broken ribs, contusions and bruises all over his body and signs of chronic trauma to the spinal cord. The brutal battering occurred in a facility for homeless families at 1215 Seneca Avenue in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Rachel Singer of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau.