Trial for father in killing of tot who broke video game

[Hannah]

This was Tyrone Spellman's explanation to police: He "snapped" after he thought his daughter had broken a $600 Xbox game console.
Alayiah Turman was only 17 months old, born March 29, 2005. Spellman beat her to death, prosecutors say.
In an alleged confession read at his preliminary hearing yesterday, Spellman, 25, said he was playing one of Tom Clancy's "Ghost Recon" games - a violent combat epic - in a front bedroom of his family's Brewerytown home that Thursday morning, Sept. 7. He had taken Alayiah into the room so her mother, Mia Turman, could rest.
"She pulled the cord and the whole game console fell over," Spellman said in his statement, read by Homicide Detective John Cummings. "I thought it was broken. I popped her in the face. I picked her up and tossed her in a chair."
Later that day - at 12:37 p.m. - Alayiah was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital.
Spellman, also known as Anwar Salahuddin, was held for trial by order of Municipal Court Judge Gerard A. Kosinski on charges of murder, endangering the welfare of a child, and related offenses.
Alayiah's slaying was one of several child deaths examined by The Inquirer in an October article on the city Department of Human Services and its oversight of child-abuse and neglect cases.
DHS visited Spellman's rowhouse on the 1500 block of North 29th Street twice in August - each time seeing only the baby's mother, Mia Turman, 21, and Alayiah, inside. Turman told the agency that no one else lived there.
In September, Cheryl Ransom-Garner, then DHS commissioner, told The Inquirer that a social worker had reported the child looked happy and had no bruises. But Turman's mother, Marvine Turman, told The Inquirer that she had seen bruises on the child.
Yesterday's hearing focused on the injuries Alayiah suffered on the day she died.
In his statement, Spellman said that after he tossed his daughter in a chair, he put her on a bed. He then went to tell Turman, who was eight months pregnant and sleeping in a different bedroom, that he was going to a store to get "something to smoke and something to eat."
When he returned, Spellman said, Keith Walker - identified after the hearing by Spellman's supporters as a tenant in the house - told him that Alayiah "fell and had blood on her nose."
Spellman called 911 while Walker tried to resuscitate her.
Mia Turman testified yesterday, her voice at times nervous, as Spellman stared at her. Turman and Alayiah had moved into Spellman's house about a month before the child's death.
Turman testified that Spellman woke her about noon Sept. 7 and that, when she saw Alayiah, the baby's nose was bleeding, "the side of her face was bruised," and "she wasn't breathing."
Under cross-examination by Spellman's lawyer, Bobby Hoof, Turman agreed that Spellman had told her Alayiah had fallen off a bed and had been found lying on a barbell.
Edwin Lieberman, the city assistant medical examiner who performed Alayiah's autopsy, testified that in addition to bruises around her head, Alayiah suffered "tremendous injury" inside her head "caused by at minimum three separate blows" to the right side, top and back of her skull.
Alayiah's skull was fractured to the point that a piece of bone had fallen out, he said.
When asked by Assistant District Attorney Yvonne Ruiz what could have caused Alayiah's internal head injuries, Lieberman testified that a fist could have caused them or her head could have struck a smooth surface, such as a tabletop, wall or floor.
Under cross-examination, Lieberman dismissed Hoof's suggestions. "A simple fall as you are suggesting from a bed would not cause a skull fracture," he said. Nor, he said, would falling on a weight.
After the hearing, Turman, surrounded by relatives, let off her anger toward Spellman, who she said showed no remorse.
"My baby don't deserve that," she said.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/16225843.htm

Jesus.

[Peanut]

It's all very serious and everything, so why did they put this line in there: "My baby don't deserve that," she said.

That made me lol.

The dude is a scum bag though. A complete and utter scum bag. Someone should beat him to death with his 360.

[LogicDonny]

I am disgusted on this guy and I hope eh burns in hell for all he did.. Put him in jail alone and make him feel pain for what he did..

This is evil and immoral.

[Dr. Doom]

He should be sentenced to owning only a PS3 for the rest of his life.

[Deathknight]

That's really, really, bad. I mean, she was only 1 year old she didn't know what she was doing. If you're that obsessed with your stuff you should make sure that it's never in their reach. Though one thing confuses me, how is an X-box $600?

[Sewer Bull]

Spellman, also known as Anwar Salahuddin

OK, now that explains everything.

[ThirdMarioBro]

The bastard should be beaten with a mace until unrecognizable, then raped with a hatchet. Anyone who would kill their own children should not be on this earth.

Now, watch a senator try to blame the Xbox for this.

[Mecha Cow]

This is obviously the fault of video games. If we'd banned them all, this wouldn't have happened!

Spoiler:

This is disgusting. Hope the guy rots.

[Draconic]

I'll leave the videogame trash-talking to the 360 fans. This is sickeningly dispicable. Can we still burn at the stake? Let's not forget the fine devices such as a "Cat of Nine-Tails" and of course, the fingernail wedges

[Sewer Bull]

Originally Posted by Draconic

Can we still burn at the stake? Let's not forget the fine devices such as a "Cat of Nine-Tails" and of course, the fingernail wedges

My oh my. Aren't we enjoying this vision way too much?

[Jo Dawn]

Poor baby. Was only that, a baby. Obviously her 'father' was not mature enough to have a child, and like alot of kids, she paid for it. He's complete... there's not even a word for him, except for a disappointment to the human species.

Originally Posted by Peanut

Someone should beat him to death with his 360.

I agree.

[Katie]

If this was my child, I would be on trial for murder......because that man would not have survived if I found my child like that.

I hope he gets the death penalty

[Doppleganger]

Jesus... it was a dang video game system. I hope this guy rots in jail.

[Venom Symbiote]

Yeah, I heard about this a few days ago, couldn't even finish reading the article it disturbed me so much.

Usually I'm kind of a "fair trial/official judicial system" enthusiast, but reading this really brings up some violent vigilante-style urges. It's such a shame there are idiots like this out there.

This is exactly why people should be forced to take a test to see whether or not they're fit to be a parent.

[Ecto Jedi]

Strikes me as funny how they took the time to pause and say, "a violent combat epic" while describing the Clancy game. Irresponsible journalism, if you ask me. The nature of the game in question doesn't matter -- why take away from the point of the article by taking a potshot at videogames? Let's hope the terrible tragedy inflicted upon this poor child and its family won't become just another Thompson epic.

[Jester]

Because you know that's gonna be the defense for this indefensible act. If he were playing Super Mario Brothers, there'd be little for the defense to work with. I'm with ya, I really don't think video games make people more prone to violence, but you know that's how he's gonna try to swing this.

[Kendamu]

Originally Posted by Ecto Jedi

Strikes me as funny how they took the time to pause and say, "a violent combat epic" while describing the Clancy game. Irresponsible journalism, if you ask me. The nature of the game in question doesn't matter -- why take away from the point of the article by taking a potshot at videogames? Let's hope the terrible tragedy inflicted upon this poor child and its family won't become just another Thompson epic.

1) The guy should rot, bla bla bla, torture, buttrape, bla bla bla, disgusting. As much as this disturbs me, there's not much I can say that others haven't said.

2) Stupid journalists. "A violent combat epic" as if he was inspired by the game to kill.... They act like he snuck up on the child while wearing nightvision goggles and snapped her neck Metal Gear Solid style.

[Ecto Jedi]

Originally Posted by Jester

Because you know that's gonna be the defense for this indefensible act. If he were playing Super Mario Brothers, there'd be little for the defense to work with. I'm with ya, I really don't think video games make people more prone to violence, but you know that's how he's gonna try to swing this.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if that ended up being the case. In any event, anyone who believes (or suggests) that the violence in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon was somehow responsible for this guy freaking out and bashing his baby's skull in is a nut, pure and simple. Again, it's just another way for defense lawyers and trigger-happy journalists to skirt the real issue; this guy had some serious mental health problems and neither the game, nor the -- ooh! -- $600 game console should be blamed for the incident.

[DaShredder]

My question is how exactly did no one notice this ahead of time? I mean the guy payed 600 dollars for something that,now is 'old'(boy,time moves fast),and the fact that he kills his own daughter over an xbox,you think somewhere along the line a sign of his insanity may have shown beforehand? But,what really nags me is I KNOW they're gonna use this to just take more shots at video games! 1.Video game should relive stress,that's why we made them. 2.Is anybody really as impressionable as the media would have you belive? 3.Have you EVER known somebody who killed/hurt somebody influenced by the game.? 4.Do ya ever wish that we just lived in a comic book? I mean just to have vigilantes roving around at night to save us all the time.Some people would say we got cops,but....do I even have to say anything more as far as that goes?

[Peanut]

More to the point, he should be punished just for playing something as bad as Ghost Recon.