A 23-year-old Utah man has been charged with murder in the beating death of his 5½-month-old son.
Shawn Malik Johnson of West Valley City was charged Friday in Third District Court with the first-degree felony. A week earlier, police responded to a report of a child not breathing and found Deyvion Johnson unresponsive. The infant was transported to Primary Children’s Hospital, where doctors reported a large bruise on the side of his head; a fractured skull; brain swelling and eye injuries.
According to police, Shawn Johnson gave “multiple and inconsistent explanations” of how Deyvion was injured — blaming it on his 12-year-old autistic brother; on an accidental fall from a swing; and on an accident with a metal water bottle that hit the baby.