District Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison For Death of His Infant Son

          WASHINGTON – Tyrik Lamont Brown, 20, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to seven years in prison on a charge of voluntary manslaughter stemming from the death last fall of his one-month-old son, Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent H. Cohen, Jr. announced.

            Brown pled guilty in February 2015, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The plea, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for a sentence within the District of Columbia’s voluntary sentencing guidelines; in this case, the range is from four to 10 years in prison. The Honorable Rhonda Reid Winston sentenced him accordingly. Following his prison term, Brown will be placed on five years of supervised release. Brown also was ordered by the judge to undergo a full psychiatric assessment, get a GED, and enter into grief counselling and anger management classes.

            According to the government’s evidence, on Oct. 29, 2014, Brown was caring for his one-month-old son, Raj’saun Tyrik Brown, at the family’s residence in Southeast Washington. The child’s mother woke the baby at 8 a.m., fed him, and then left him in the care of Brown when she went to work at about 8:30 a.m. At the time she left, she placed the child on top of a pillow in the bed with the defendant.

            At 8:57 a.m., Brown sent a text message to the mother stating that he had just cut the baby’s leg with his fingernails while rushing to change him and that the baby was bleeding. At 9:32 a.m., he called her to report that the boy had a white “foamy milk-like” substance coming from his nose. Then at 9:41 a.m., he called to say that the child was unresponsive. The mother instructed Brown to call 911 and she herself called 911. Law enforcement met the mother, and provided her transportation to the hospital, where Raj’saun was pronounced dead.

            The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries, including a skull fracture and rib fractures.

            In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Cohen commended the work of the detectives, officers, and others who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He also expressed appreciation to the District of Columbia Office of the Medical Examiner and the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences for assistance in the investigation. Finally, he acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Kelly Blakeney and Mia Beamon, Victim/Witness Advocate Marcia Rinker, Intern Nicholas Molayem, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia G. Wright, who prosecuted the case.