Devin A. O'Daniell
WILLIAMSON CO., Ill. - A 25-year-old man is being held in the Williamson County Jail after having been accused of injuring his own child in Marion, so badly that the baby boy later died of his injuries.
The situation, which broke this past Friday, November 23, began when a call came in to Marion City Police regarding a domestic at a residence on Meadowland Parkway. The caller advised that her baby boy, age 3 months, had been "abused."
However, that apparently was an understatement, and the infant was rushed to a children's trauma hospital in St. Louis with unspecified, but apparently very serious, injuries; the baby died yesterday of them, on Monday, Nov. 26.
Devin A. O'Daniell, 25, the infant's father, has since been arrested; he has been charged with Class X felony Aggravated Battery of a Child, Class 2 felony Aggravated Domestic Battery, and misdemeanor Domestic Battery.
Because the Southern Illinois Child Death Task Force had to be involved in the case, the matter was leaked to all media outlets except Disclosure, likely at the direction of ISP "special agent" Rick White, who has been prohibited from operating in certain counties for his proclivity to do such a thing and who is on the SICDTF because, we were told years ago, "no one else wanted to do it." We bring this up, however, because under the thread at one of the area TV station's Fecesbook page, people are having high-speed comeaparts because O'Daniell hasn't been charged with murder. Unlike other media outlets, we explain why the charges O'Daniell is facing aren't anything to do with the child's death as yet, and under this circumstance, there could be several. However, it appears that O'Daniell was arrested on Friday on the aforementioned charges, which were all he could be charged with at the time. The child was still alive at the time. Upon the child's death yesterday, O'Daniell might be charged with something additional, but that's up to the prosecutor, Brandon Zanotti. And because murder/manslaughter/homicide charges need to not only show intent but also to be airtight, Zanotti has likely ordered a very thorough investigation (not that White will contribute to such a thing) and won't file such a charge until the evidence shows that one is warranted. Sadly in infant death cases, that's just the way it has to go, but in this country, one is innocent until proven guilty, and the prosecution must be able to prove such a thing before moving forward.
The death of the infant, named Claude Aleczander Tobias O’Daniell, is now the subject of a fundraising campaign, which details and pics (warning: a couple of them are somewhat horrifying) can be viewed at this link and will not be presented here, as some people still have a measure of decorum online (certainly not anyone on Fecesbook, however, which is why we dumped ours). We don't promote fundraising campaigns here anymore, so check it out if you wish.
Devin O'Daniell is being held at the Williamson County Jail on a million-dollar bond; he's next due in court on Dec. 10. O'Daneill is being represented by public defender Therese Thien.