MOTHER PLEADS GUILTY IN THE BEATING DEATH OF HER FOUR-YEAR-OLD SON

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today the conviction of a 27-year- old Bronx mother for her role in the beating death of her four-year-old son in January 2006. Aleisha Smith, 26, pled guilty to one count of Manslaughter in the 2nd degree and is to appear for sentencing before State Supreme Court Justice John Moore on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 in Part 70. Under terms of the plea agreement, Smith is to be sentenced to a term of 2½ to 7½ years imprisonment.

Smith admitted to “recklessly cause the death” of her 4-year-old son Quachaun Brown. Smith admitted that she failed to obtain prompt medical attention for the child even though she had observed “multiple bruises to his head and body, frequent bleeding from the child’s ear and frequent vomiting of blood” as a result of beatings, allegedly at the hands of her boyfriend, Jose Calderon. Calderon, 18, has been charged with Murder in the 2nd degree and is still awaiting trial.

Calderon, according to court papers, repeatedly beat Quachaun Brown in the head and body “by using his fists, a belt, a plastic bat, and by striking his head against a wall” during the course of several assaults that occurred between January 27, 2006 and January 30, 2006. The homicide occurred at the couple’s Kossuth Avenue apartment one day before the child’s fifth birthday.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Investigative Assistant District Attorney Astrid Borgstedt and Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Gamils of the Child Abuse / Sex Offense Bureau.