Jury acquits Florida dad whose baby choked on a lollipop

Publish date: 2024-02-12
Jermaine Marcell Levy, 20, was acquitted of manslaughter in the choking death of his infant son, but was convicted of battery in punching the baby's mother

Jermaine Marcell Levy, 20, was acquitted of manslaughter in the choking death of his infant son, but was convicted of battery in punching the baby's mother

Jurors in Miami have acquitted a man who was charged with manslaughter after his six-month-old son choked on a lollipop.

The Miami Herald reports a jury decided late last week that the death of 20-year-old Jermaine Marcell Levy's son Marcell Davis Jr. was accidental and not the result of reckless behavior.

'This was a tragic accident that should not have been charged as a crime,' said Levy's lawyer, Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Adam Saper. 

Saper says the baby died on Father's Day 2018 as his father, from Miami, tried to resuscitate him, and he was thankful that jury did not find Levy guilty of the 'purely accidental death.'

Levy, then 19 years old, was arrested after police said he hit the baby's mother Warnisha Davis in the mouth and kidnapped the boy who he had never taken care of before. 

An arrest warrant says Levy was homeless and couldn't provide formula for the child.  He told police that he took baby Jermaine to his brother's home, then to his godmother's home. 

choked on a lollipop and died on June 17 in Miami.choked on a lollipop and died on June 17 in Miami.

Six-month-old Marcell Davis Jr. choked on a lollipop and died on June 17 while in the care of his homeless father Jermaine Marcell Levy, who was acquitted of manslaughter in the case

Warnisha Davis was punched by Jermaine Marcell Levy he snatched the baby in June 2018. The infant, Marcell Jr., would later die in his father's care

Warnisha Davis was punched by Jermaine Marcell Levy he snatched the baby in June 2018. The infant, Marcell Jr., would later die in his father's care

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Neither were at their homes, so he took the infant to a tent where he lived outside of a friend's house.

The baby was left sucking on the lollipop when Levy fell asleep for about one minute, according to police, before he woke to the sound of his son 'gasping for air'.

The infant died of accidental asphyxia on the candy, according to the medical examiner, and jurors deliberated less than two hours before acquitting the father of manslaughter and kidnapping charges. 

Levy, however, was convicted of battery for punching the child’s mother, and remains in jail pending sentencing.   

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