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New video shows interrogation of teen accused in death of 4-month-old son

PITTSBURGH — Channel 11 has new video just entered into evidence in the murder trial of a 17-year-old accused of killing his 4-month-old son.

The nearly hourlong video shows the defendant, De-John Johnson of McKeesport, and his mother talking with Allegheny County homicide detectives in February 2017.

Johnson was only 16 at the time and so his mother insisted, and was allowed, to be in the interview room with him.

RELATED: Teenager charged with homicide in his own baby's death

Detectives questioned them for almost an hour after Johnson’s 4-month-old son, Isaiah, was declared dead at the hospital.

“I checked on him back at 12. He was OK,” Johnson said. “And then I checked back on him at three (o’clock) and he wasn’t OK, like he stopped breathing.”

Police charged Johnson with homicide and accused him of smothering the baby boy with a pillow in the middle of the night.

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“Every night that he‘s been at your house, he’s been in the bed with you?” detectives asked Johnson in the video.

“No, usually he be with my mom, like downstairs on the couch,” the teenager replied.

Toward the end of the interview, detectives showed Johnson and his mother photographs of the baby and pointed out injuries that doctors said was from direct pressure being applied to the baby’s face.

After that line of questioning, Johnson’s mother ended the interview.

“If we’re not under arrest, or being detained, we’re done talking to you guys, so can we go?” she said.

The defense is expected to start Wednesday with their own expert witnesses, and the court could see Johnson’s mother take the stand as well.

 

Cox Media Group

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