GUILTY PA - Alivia Delrio, 13 mos, dies of head injuries, Ashland, 27 Dec 2014

The autopsy determined the child had bleeding inside her head and retinal and optic nerve hemorrhages caused by back and forth motions and not from falling off a couch.

Lizewski said that Bollinger concluded that the injuries suffered by Delrio were too many in number to have occurred during normal childhood accidents and ruled the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death was homicide.

Lizewski said that throughout the investigation, Brennan changed his story three times and that Bollinger ruled the injuries could not have been a result of being hit with the plastic giraffe due to the weight of the toy.

Click to expand...

An Ashland man charged with allegedly causing the death of a 13-month-old girl in December waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Joseph J. Brennan, 29, was scheduled to appear before Magisterial District Judge Christina E. Hale, Frackville, on one felony count each of third-degree murder, aggravated assault, involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children along with misdemeanor offenses of simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and false reports to law enforcement authorities.

Click to expand...

Lizewski charged Brennan with causing the death of Alivia Delrio, who he was watching at a home on West Centre Street in Ashland, on Dec. 27...

The pathologist concluded the injuries suffered by the girl were too numerous to have occurred during a normal childhood accident and ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death a homicide.

Click to expand...

Brennan, 30, of Ashland, pleaded no contest to aggravated assault and involuntary manslaughter, with prosecutors withdrawing charges of third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and false reports to law enforcement.

“It was the commonwealth’s belief that this was a shaken baby,” Deputy Assistant District Attorney Jennifer N. Foose said Monday about the death of 13-month-old Alivia Delrio.

Judge James P. Goodman accepted the plea and, pursuant to the agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, sentenced Brennan on Thursday to serve five to 10 years in a state correctional institution, pay costs and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement officials.

By pleading no contest, Brennan did not admit committing the crimes, but offered no defense to them, acknowledged prosecutors could produce enough evidence to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the two crimes and agreed to be sentenced as if he had pleaded or been found guilty.

Click to expand...