A 22-year-old woman is facing up to 25 years to life in state prison after being convicted of fatally beating a 2-year-old boy she babysat in La Puente in 2012, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Jurors deliberated about five hours before finding Niesiia Johnson guilty Wednesday of second-degree murder and assault on a child causing death, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Johnson babysat the boy, identified only as Atreyu M., for the child’s mother on multiple weekends during the three months leading up to his death, and the boy had been with her for the 10 days leading up to his death, according to Deputy District Attorney Deborah Shaw Scott.
Johnson told authorities that she found the boy hunched over and bleeding from his nose and mouth after she got out of the shower early July 31, 2012, according to the prosecutor.
A housemate called 911 and the boy was taken to a hospital, where he later died of a subdural hematoma, the prosecutor said.
Following a lengthy investigation, Johnson was charged in November 2012 in connection with the boy’s killing.
According to court testimony, the toddler’s body showed extensive abuse, including severe bruising on his face and buttocks and whip marks on several areas of his body.
Blood found in the defendant’s bathroom, bedroom and clothing linked her to the boy’s beating, according to the prosecutor.
Johnson is due back in a Pomona courtroom for sentencing Dec. 16.
— City News Service