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Prosecutor: Rock Island baby beaten to death by man angry over diaper rash crying

Prosecutors said a Rock Island man beat his girlfriend’s baby to death after being frustrated over his constant crying over a serious case of diaper rash.

A Rock Island man beat his girlfriend's baby to death after being frustrated over his constant crying over a serious case of diaper rash.

That's what Rock Island County prosecutors say happened on day one of the first-degree murder trial of 20-year-old Lavail Dunbar.

"Upset over a child screaming. He lost it, and battered Jeremiah Morrison, knowing that action would cause his death," said Assistant States Attorney Jennifer Gardner during opening statements Wednesday, January 28, 2015.

First responders testified they arrived at Maple Ridge Apartments on September 18, 2013 and found the four-month-old baby boy on the living room floor, and he wasn't breathing.

Related:  Police testimony: Baby’s skull looked like ‘cracked egg’ shell

"I entered the apartment. I observed Lavail Dunbar kneeling over a small infant child, giving mouth to mouth," said Rock Island Police Officer Tony Zier.

Emergency room nurse Kelly McKay told the jury the infant had no pulse when he arrived at the hospital in Rock Island.

"He came in by ambulance, in Code Pink, so he was in full cardiac arrest," she testified.

After being pronounced dead, McKay says she documented 16 different bruises and injuries on the little boy's body.

Prosecutors say the baby died from blunt trauma to the head, with skull fractures that "looked like an egg ready to be peeled."

Family members of the baby wept as graphic photos of the infant were shown on an overhead screen, with large purple bruises on his forehead, neck, and little legs.

There were also injuries in the anal area. The little boy had been seen by a doctor three days before his death for a serious case of diaper rash.

Officer Mike Wood testified that Dunbar was taken into a conference room at the hospital, and slept the entire time.

When taken down to the police station, Wood said Dunbar asked him one question.

"He said, 'Did ya'll get that baby to breathe or what?' I said, 'No, we did not,'" Wood testified.

The defense hinted some of the injuries could have been caused by Dunbar's incorrect CPR technique on the baby, or from the oxygen mask used by the paramedics on the way to the hospital.

Nurse McKay said that was a question to be answered, but testified she asked the fire department crew on the scene, who told her they saw swelling and bruises before bagging the baby.

The baby's mother, Leila Martin, is also charged with murder and is expected to go to trial in March.

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