Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 8, 1995 TAG: 9504100034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Ayton, 23, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder Friday during a hearing in Roanoke Circuit Court.
The details of exactly how 7-month-old Darius Akeem Ayton drowned are sketchy; his mother has given police several versions of what happened the night of Nov. 1 at her apartment on Ferncliff Avenue Northwest.
But one part of her story has remained the same - throughout the day, Ayton told Detective Keith Sidwell, she had grown increasingly frustrated with the infant's crying and yelling.
"She was, in her words, very upset and very angry with him," Sidwell testified Friday.
As part of an agreement, prosecutors reduced a first-degree murder change in return for Ayton's guilty plea. "The real issue in the case would have been premeditation," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Ekirch said, explaining that prosecutors were not confident a jury would find that Ayton planned the killing.
Ayton faces up to 40 years in prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced May 26.
On the night of the drowning, Ayton called 911 and said her son had slipped from her lap as she bathed him and fell face-down into the bathwater. Ayton, who has cerebral palsy that limits the use of her right arm, said she was unable to get her son out of the tub immediately.
But under questioning from Sidwell - who pressed for details about burn marks found on the infant - Ayton gave a different account.
After first saying that Darius hit the hot-water faucet as he fell into the bathtub, Ayton admitted that she became more and more angry as the child moved around in the tub and continued to cry.
"She did admit to me that she held Darius under the water until he stopped breathing," Sidwell testified. An autopsy found that the baby had drowned, which would have required someone to hold him under the water for at least two minutes.
Ayton did not speak during Friday's hearing, except to answer routine questions from the judge in a soft voice. She kept her gaze down, and shielded her eyes with one hand when Sidwell gave details from the autopsy.
Court records have shown that Ayton had little family support as she raised her son alone, and that was evident from the courtroom audience Friday. The only people who showed up to watch the case were reporters and members of a high school class on a field trip.
Assistant Public Defender John Varney had asked last month for a mental evaluation of Ayton, who has suffered from depression and is mildly mentally retarded. But the tests found that she was both competent to stand trial and legally sane at the time of the offense.
Court records have also shown that before the drowning, Ayton had talked about being frustrated with her son's crying and failure to eat, and expressed concerns that he did not like her.
Last April, when Darius Ayton was just 22 days old, he was admitted to Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley suffering from a high temperature and dehydration. A judge later issued an emergency removal order after finding that Ayton was "emotionally unable to care for the child."
Several weeks later, Ayton petitioned the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court to regain custody of her son. After several months of court hearings, counseling and home visits by the Department of Social Services, a social worker recommended that Ayton be granted full custody.
A judge allowed Darius to return home with his mother on Sept. 12, less than two months before he died.
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