EDWARDSVILLE (MCT) — A Madison County judge issued a ruling Thursday that found a father guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his daughter, who died nearly 10 years after being shaken severely as an infant.

Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli presided over last week's stipulated bench trial of Torrance "Tyrone" Rogers. The non-jury trial meant the judge would decide the defendant's guilt or innocence.

Much of the evidence in the case was "stipulated" - that is, the two sides agreed the evidence would be presented had there been a conventional trial.

Prosecutors told Tognarelli that the victim, Taylor Nicole Rogers, died in 2009 at the age of 9 from pneumonia that originated with a brain injury caused by shaking when she was just 10 weeks old.

Defense attorney Lyndon Evanko argued the pneumonia that ultimately caused Taylor's death didn't necessarily result from her client's actions.

But Assistant Madison County State's Attorney Susan Jensen said the child's pneumonia was linked to the shaking. She offered a highly complex series of reports that linked the pneumonia to the shaking, even though the child survived nine years.

A St. Louis County, Mo., medical examiner's report said the manner of death was homicide and the cause was traumatic brain injury and child abuse - specifically, delayed death due to blunt trauma.

Jensen said blunt trauma could include vigorous shaking. There were no external injuries.

Taylor was born healthy on Feb. 6, 1999, but then was shaken at age 10 weeks because she was crying.

Rogers pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated battery to a child and was sentenced in 2001 to 15 years in prison.

As it turned out, Rogers served about half of the 15-year sentence at Graham Correctional Center and was released. After Taylor died, he was charged with first-degree murder and has been held in the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville.

Once Taylor became severely injured, her great-aunt, Debbie Dycus of Edwardsville, took over her care. For nine years, Dycus struggled to keep the child alive and relatively healthy, even though Taylor had lost 95 percent of her brain function.

Dycus testified that the child needed a machine to help her breathe, was blind and often had to go to the hospital for treatment of many illnesses.

She said she took Taylor to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis with a urinary tract infection in January 2009. Later, the child developed pneumonia. As she was waiting to take the child home with a breathing device, Taylor died, Dycus testified.

In a section of Tognarelli's ruling titled "Analysis," the judge noted Rogers' guilty plea to attempted aggravated battery to a child.

"The defendant argues that he did not intend to injure Taylor, and that he was never instructed that shaking an infant would cause harm," Tognarelli wrote. "At most, defendant contends, he is guilty of involuntary manslaughter."

But Tognarelli pointed out that Illinois' 5th District Court of Appeals found that Rogers' "claim that he did not intend to harm Taylor was directly at odds with his guilty plea," in which the defendant admitted to "knowingly" causing great bodily harm to a child.

"The defendant's guilty plea is a judicial admission that he had intent to cause Taylor great bodily harm," Tognarelli wrote.

The judge also noted that Taylor's pediatrician and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital followed the girl's health on a regular basis after the initial injury, and "their diagnosis never changed.

"Her death certificate states that her cause of death was traumatic brain injury, which occurred nine years prior to her death," he wrote."

Tognarelli found Rogers guilty of first-degree murder and ordered a pre-sentencing investigation before deciding his punishment.