A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Davionte Allen on Friday, Jan. 9, to eight years in prison in addition to eight years of extended supervision in connection with the June 2020 death of his 3-month-old son.
Allen, 27, pleaded no contest in September to the two charges against him, including second-degree reckless homicide and neglecting a child.
According to the criminal complaint in this case, Allen was left alone with the child for around an hour and a half on Friday, June 12, 2020, while the child’s mother left to run some errands. When she returned, the child “appeared to be sleeping” inside a pack-and-play.
Allen recorded the child making “weird grunting noises” while the mother was away. Not knowing what happened while she was gone, the mother continued to let the child sleep. Approximately two hours later, the complaint states, the mother went to wake the child, but found him to be limp and unresponsive. She then rushed him to the hospital.
CT Scan Revealed Bleeding on the Child’s Brain, Consistent with Trauma from ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’
A CT scan at the hospital showed large bleeding on the brain, consistent with traumatic impact from shaken baby syndrome – a severe brain injury that occurs from violently shaking an infant or toddler, usually due to caregiver frustration, often from inconsolable crying.
The child was intubated and transferred to the Children’s Wisconsin intensive care unit.
There, the child was found to have hemorrhages “too numerous to count” extended into all layers of the retina. The child also had brain hemorrhage and herniation and damage to the brainstem. The complaint states that the child also had multiple, healing rib fractures.
A brain death evaluation was made by the hospital’s neurology department, revealing a complete loss of brain function. The child was taken off life support and died on June 14, 2020. The complaint states that the child’s injuries were ruled by a doctor as “immediately symptomatic.”
Allen Told Police the Child Had Colic and Wouldn’t Stop Crying, Prompting Him to Pick the Child Up with Force and Jerking His Body
In an interview, Allen told police that the child was colic and would not stop crying and would not go to sleep while the mother was out. Allen said he rocked, bounced and burped the child before laying him down for a nap — and denied harming the child in any way.
After being arrested and questioned by Milwaukee police detectives, Allen admitted to picking the child up with force and jerking his body without supporting his head. The child then began breathing irregularly, which is when he took a video to show the mother.
In the video, the complaint states, Allen is heard saying “you okay, (son)…oh no.”
An autopsy confirmed the child’s cause of death as blunt force trauma and ruled the manner of death a homicide.
