Boyfriend Of Killed Harlem 6-Year-Old's Mother Convicted, DA Says

HARLEM, NY — The live-in boyfriend of the mother of slain Harlem 6-year-old Zymere Perkins was found guilty of the boy's 2016 death Wednesday, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr . Announced Wednesday.

Rysheim Smith was convicted on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said. Perkins' death was the impetus behind a series of reforms at the city Administration for Children's Services. The agency's former commissioner Gladys Carrión resigned shortly after the death, but said at the time that her department was not related.

"The death of Zymere Perkins was an unthinkable tragedy that sent shockwaves through the city and inspired a reckoning with how our social services system works to protect New York’s most vulnerable. As proven at trial, Zymere was an innocent and helpless six-year-old boy who suffered unconscionable, ongoing violence at the hands of Rysheim Smith," Vance said in a statement.

Smith was indicted in 2017 after the city medical examiner ruled Perkins' death a homicide by fatal child abuse syndrome. Perkins was rushed to Mount Sinai Saint Luke's Hospital by his mother on Sept. 26, 2016 suffering from bruises to his body and a contusion on his head, police told Patch. Perkins was pronounced dead the same day, police said.

An autopsy revealed that Perkins had suffered linear bruises on his torso, bruises and finger marks on his neck, and other injuries to his head and body, according to a criminal complaint. Zymere Perkins was also suffering from previously broken ribs, according to the autopsy.

The boy's mother, Geraldine Perkins, told police that her live-in boyfriend Smith hit the boy with his hands and with a wooden broom stick the day of his death, according to a criminal complaint. The mother also told police that Smith had hung the boy from the back of their apartment's bathroom door by his shirt and had seen his body "go limp," according to the complaint.

Geraldine Perkins, told police that Smith had hung the boy from thee back of their apartment's bathroom door by his shirt and had seen his body "go limp. Smith became angry when Perkins defecated in the living room of Smith's apartment on West 135th Street between Broadway and Riverside Drive, according to the DA's office.

After Smith left the apartment, Geraldine Perkins took her unconscious son down from the door and put him on his bed. When she returned to wake him and the child would not respond, she rushed him to the hospital, according to a criminal complaint from the DA's office.

Prosecutors plan to announce a sentencing date for Smith on Wednesday.

Months after Perkins' death, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) published a scathing report detailing the failure of the city to conduct thorough investigations into repeated abuse of Perkins before his death. The OCFS report analyzed five ACS investigations into Perkins' family that occurred between June 2010 and April 2016, concluding that the city did not follow regulatory standards and failed to intervene when it could have to protect Perkins.

An ACS internal report resulted in the firing of three staffers directly tied to Perkins' case, the suspension of two staffers and the demotion of four more staffers demoted for botching investigations into the abuse of Perkins.