SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Court of Appeals has refused to dismiss charges against a couple accused of killing their baby in 2006 by sleeping with him — their second child to die in bed with them.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the judges sided with a lower court in a pair of opinions released Friday concerning the death of 3-month-old Kayson Merrill. The infant died while in bed between his father, Trevor Merrill, and mother, Echo Nielsen, of South Jordan.
The judges said that while a state medical examiner listed the official cause of death as "undetermined," there was enough evidence that "co-sleeping" caused the baby to suffocate to put the parents on trial.
The parents, whose first child also died while sleeping with them in 2003, have been charged with child-abuse homicide and reckless endangerment.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
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