DIXON – A 33-year-old Dixon man admitted to police in September that he shook his 3-month-old daughter and dropped her on the floor several days before the girl died from severe head injuries.
Further, Charles T. George admitted to shaking Tamari O. George several times in the past and had even dropped her onto a living room couch.
Thursday, more than 5 months after Tamari died, George was charged with two counts of aggravated battery of a child, punishable by 6 to 30 years in prison; aggravated domestic battery, punishable by 3 to 7 years in prison; and involuntary manslaughter, punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison.
George is expected to be in court this afternoon to hear the new charges against him.
He has been in the Lee County Jail on a $250,000 bond since Sept. 30, charged with felony and misdemeanor domestic battery for hitting his son in August with the wand off a set of mini-blinds, according to police.
George is set to go to trial in that case in March, represented by Lee County Public Defender Bob Thompson.
Thompson said Thursday that he anticipates also being appointed to represent George on the new charges.
Lee County State’s Attorney Henry Dixon said he will ask a judge today to increase George’s bond to $1 million.
Dixon said the case likely will go to a grand jury Feb. 24 or 25.
George was not charged with first-degree murder, Dixon said, because the medical reports and evidence collected during the investigation don’t point to a “premeditated murder.”
“We have sufficient evidence to show manslaughter and aggravated abuse of a child,” Dixon said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the document outlining why a defendant is being charged with a crime:
Police were called to KSB Hospital on Sept. 20 after Tamari’s mother, Heather Pitchford, brought in the girl. Doctors discovered that she had fractures of her skull, bleeding on the brain, and a swollen head and left eye.
Pitchford, 23, told police that Tamari appeared lethargic and slept most of the day. When she tried to feed the girl, she noticed that she wouldn’t eat much. Later that night, Pitchford noticed Tamari’s eye was swollen, something she hadn’t noticed before, when the girl woke from a nap.
Tamari was airlifted to Rockford Memorial Hospital, and died 3 days later. An autopsy showed she died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Doctors in Rockford noted the girl had retinal hemorrhages, retinal detachments in both eyes, a broken rib, and several skull fractures – injuries typical of Shaken Baby Syndrome, they told police.
On Sept. 29, Pitchford told police she had seen George shake the girl within the past 2 weeks.
The following day, George was interviewed by police.
George told officers that on Sept. 17, he had been changing Tamari’s diaper on the floor when she began to cry. He then picked her up and shook her four or five times to get her to stop crying before dropping her back on the floor.
He also admitted to shaking her on at least four or five previous occasions and once dropped her onto a living room couch from a standing position. Witnesses also told police they had seen George throwing the girl on the couch.
George and other witnesses also told police that Pitchford never shook or dropped the baby, according to the affidavit.