How did the charge in a Bloomington baby's death go from murder to neglect? It's not clear.
On the evening of July 30, 2019, Anastasia Mosher went to a neighbor's and asked for a ride to the hospital. Something was wrong with her 2-month-old son.
She got into the backseat of the man's car. Her 19-year-old boyfriend got in the front. He was holding the baby, who was likely already dead.
The neighbor later told police he noticed while driving that the infant was silent and his skin gray. He said he heard Dakota King, who had been taking care of the baby while his girlfriend worked at Rally's that day, talking.
He said he didn't deserve to live and that if the baby's death was investigated, "they're gonna find something," a police report said.
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Later that night, Bloomington Police Department Detective Kevin Frank interviewed King, who was not the child's father, at the police department.
"Through the course of the interview, Dakota admitted to placing his hands on the back of Victim #1's head, and held him down. He acknowledged that Victim # 1 was crying, and upon pushing his head into the pillow, that Victim # 1 quit crying."
Victim #1 was Braylon Elijah Lee Mosher. Born May 28, 2019, at 12:16 p.m., he weighed 7 pounds and one ounce. He died two months and two days later, "because of tragic circumstances beyond the control of his family," his obituary said.
Plea agreement would reduce charges
The day after his arrest, the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office charged King with murder, battery resulting in death and two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury. The next day, the prosecutor filed a petition seeking life in prison without parole if King was convicted.
Almost two years later, on April 27, 2021, a plea agreement was struck. King would plead guilty to an amended charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 3 felony punishable by three to 16 years in jail.
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The deal dismisses the other charges, and gives King credit for the 902 days he's served at the Monroe County Jail.
And after he secures a place to live, King will spend the rest of his time not behind bars, but on house arrest.
How did this happen?
How did a case that started with a murder charge and a possible sentence of life with no possibility for parole evolve into a case of neglect resulting in injury punished by house arrest? How did an incident where a baby spit up his formula on his caregiver end in death?
A review of online court records doesn't reveal what happened.
During a court hearing this week, Monroe Circuit Judge Valeri Haughton approved King being released from jail a third time to look for a place to live. He was released twice in December for the same purpose, with no results.
The judge authorized releasing King again, Jan. 24-26. If he doesn't find a place, his lawyer said King will begin to search outside Monroe County.
"Mr. King has looked for a place here in Monroe County but he's not having any luck," public defender Phyllis Emerick said. "I'm trying to come up with as many solutions as I can. It makes sense, for a lot of reasons, to look out of county."
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She suggested that Haughton could just release King on probation since he has served more than two years in jail. The judge said she won't do that, "given the nature of the offense."
Monroe County Deputy Prosecutor Trisha Bushey told the judge that probation won't do. "I was loathe to agree to the plea," she said. Asked for details after Tuesday's hearing, Bushey said she can't discuss details of the case.
An email inquiry sent to Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant asking about the plea agreement and sentence for King was not answered by the deadline for this story.
Haughton set a Jan. 27 hearing for King to update his housing situation and complete his sentencing.
Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington infant murder case charges could be reduced to neglect
