Crime & Safety
Roxborough Man Pleads Guilty to Third Degree Murder of 3-Year-Old
Joseph Zysk was found guilty in April 2014 of involuntary manslaughter of a boy he beat to death because he would not stop crying.
A Roxborough man already serving 5 to 10 years in prison for the beating death of a three-year-old boy pleaded guilty Monday to the more serious charge of third degree murder, according to Philly.com
Joseph Zysk, 31, took the plea prior to the start of a new trial over the charge scheduled to begin later this week. A jury found Zysk guilty of involuntary manslaughter in April 2014, but could not reach a verdict on the third degree murder charge. Judge J. Scott O’Keefe is expected to add another 20 to 40 years to the sentence.
According to CBS Philly, Zysk was arrested for the murder of three-year-old Jason Larkin Jr. in January 2011 after police found the boy’s mother performing CPR on the child at a home on the 4200 block of Houghton Street.
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Zysk said during his trial that he was frustrated by Jason’s crying and struck him several times in the abdomen, Philly.com reports. Medical examiners showed that the strikes caused Jason to internally bleed to death.
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