Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Guilty Plea for Murder of 3-Year-Old Jabari Stocks

From the SAO:
Phillip Queen, 29, of the 100 block of Conley Drive pled guilty today to second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death. The State had called its first two witnesses yesterday and today when Judge Charles G. Bernstein accepted the guilty plea. Each count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

Queen pled guilty to the following statement of facts: On June 8, 2007 Queen caused the death of Jabari Stocks, 3, while babysitting him at he and his girlfriend’s house in the 900 block of Patapsco Avenue. The mother was working that night. Queen called the mother at work that night advising her that her that Jabari was not breathing and was unresponsive. Queen said that Jabari had choked. The mother left work and rushed home to take Jabari to Harbor Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

An autopsy was performed and the cause of death was ruled homicide by trauma to the brain with force. Testimony would have shown that Queen took a disliking to Stokes, calling him spoiled and that eventually, June 8, 2007, he hit Jabari in a way in which his head was slammed into an object, severing neurons in his brain.

Judge Bernstein did not schedule a sentencing date pending a pre-sentence investigation of Queen’s history. Felony Family Violence Division Chief Julie Drake and Assistant State’s Attorney Kelly Burrell prosecuted this case.

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