Man Sentenced For Killing Infant Step-Grandson In 2016

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, MD — A Capitol Heights man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of his 6-month-old step-grandson who was killed in September 2016.

Lenwood Pearson, 48, was sentenced Monday for first-degree child abuse resulting in the death of Demetri Hooper.

Six-month-old Demetri was in the sole care and custody of Pearson on Sept. 13, 2016. Demetri's father, Leonard Hooper, asked Pearson, his mother's husband, to pick Demetri up from daycare, police said.

When Leonard came to pick the baby up from Pearson's Capitol Heights home an hour later, he realized Demetri was unresponsive. Police were called to the 300 block of Zelma Avenue at around 7:15 p.m. that night.

Pearson told police he lifted Demetri into the air and his head hit the blade of a ceiling fan, according to Fox 5. Demetri allegedly then fell out of Pearson's head, struck the stove and fell again.

Demetri was rushed to the hospital, but died three days later.

"I don't feel like Lenwood Pearson was remorseful for what he did to us, and I don't feel like his apology was sincere," Demetri mother, Denita Whittaker, said Monday.

See Related: Charges in 6-Month Old's Death in Capitol Heights: Police

An autopsy revealed the cause of death to be trauma to the baby's head, and the death was ruled a homicide. Demetri suffered broken ribs, a fractured skull and was brain dead.

"It's so hard out there moving through life without the person you love the most — your son, your baby boy," Hooper said. "And as a father, I'm standing strong for my lady and I'm here for everybody that helped us through this situation."

Demetri was Whittaker and Hooper's only son.

"Truly there is no justice for an infant who was murdered, there is no justice that you can offer the family in this case, but we are satisfied that Mr. Pearson will spend a significant time in jail and will not have the opportunity to harm or murder yet another child," Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said Monday.

Image via Prince George's County Police Department