OGDEN, Utah, Feb. 21, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A Roy man has pleaded guilty to the fatal beating of his newborn son, a move intended to help him avoid the death penalty.
Matthew Daniel Graves, 24, pleaded guilty to punching his month-old son, Brayden, repeatedly in September 2017 because the infant’s crying made him angry.
Graves pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony. In exchange for his plea, two additional charges — endangerment of a child, a third-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia in a drug-free zone, a class A misdemeanor — were dismissed.
According to a probable cause statement, officers were dispatched at 7:41 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2017, to the residence on the report of an infant who was not breathing. The baby was transported to Ogden Regional Hospital, then flown by medical helicopter to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
“The doctors at Primary’s informed law enforcement that the infant had sustained severe non-accidental trauma to include huge fractures to the right side of the head, massive brain swelling and hemorrhage, fixed and dilated pupils, tremendous soft tissue damage, separation of the vertebrae in the neck and loss of oxygen to the brain,” the probable cause statement says.
The baby died the next day, Roy City police confirmed.
Interviewed on Sept. 8 at the hospital, Graves “admitted that he had gotten angry because the infant was crying and had punched him repeatedly in the head,” the statement says.
“Matthew stated that he could not remember how many times he hit the infant as he blacked out from rage. Matthew made comments that he is a monster, that he has lost all hope in life and is going to lose everything.”
Graves also admitted to drug use in the home where he was living with the infant and the baby’s 5-year-old sibling, who “described seeing multiple instances where Matthew would spank the infant and also described instances of domestic violence in the home,” the probable cause statement says.
The statement also noted that officers found drug residue and a tinfoil pipe in the residence, and that Graves has a 2016 conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm.
Graves’ sentencing is scheduled for March 5.
