September 20, 2018
Lakesheia Jackson appeared in a York County courtroom for her bond hearing Thursday afternoon.
She is facing charges of unlawful neglect of a child and homicide by child abuse. She was arrested in April after her 2-year-old son, Miguel Williams, was found dead in a Rock Hill home.
Deputy Solicitor Willy Thompson said the cause of death was ruled full body blunt force trauma.
“As a prosecutor, I’ve never seen that before and I’ve been a prosecutor for 26 years,” Thompson said. “I’ve never seen that as a cause of death for any human, let alone a child.”
Thompson says the pathologists’ report details the injuries the 2-year-old sustained. They include broken ribs, bleeding from several internal organs and dozens of bruises and contusions all over his body.
“There were strikes to the front of his face, causing the back of his mouth to strike against his teeth and break into the skin, break through the skin,” Thompson said in court. “What the pathologist described to me is a punch to that child’s face that is causing that.”
“The way this occurs, one might normally see this in a severe car accident,” Thompson said. “But obviously we know this child was not in a severe car accident. So the only other explanation is a physical battering by another human. This would be a violent battering. This would be an adult punching a child numerous times.”
The prosecution and the defense said in court the boy’s father, Bruce Williams, is the one they believe beat the child to death. However, the prosecution argued that the boy’s mother was there and stood by while it happened.
When the two appeared in court after their arrests in April, police testified that they told officers their 2-year-old son accidentally drowned in a hotel bath tub.
Arrest warrants say Jackson and Williams intentionally withheld medical attention from the boy, who was unconscious.
In court Thursday, the prosecution says Lakesheia Jackson and Bruce Williams worked together to avoid getting the little boy help. Thompson says the beating happened in a hotel room in Rock Hill.
“There is no way she could not have seen it, and ultimately she admits she saw much of the assault on the child and did really nothing to stop it,” Thompson said. “It’s clear that they worked together not to call 911.”
Thompson says Jackson called her father, a friend and a taxi cab. He says they took the taxi to a friend’s house, which is where the child was later pronounced dead hours later by responding officers and EMS personnel.
An employee for the Department of Social Services testified at Jackson’s bond hearing. The DSS employee says Jackson has a long history of violations and complaints within the system, including the care of Miguel Williams, and her other three children.
When Miguel was killed, Jackson was 5 months pregnant. Her defense attorney, Geoff Dunn, says she gave birth to that child on Monday, September 10. Following the c-section she had to deliver the child, she underwent a full hysterectomy. Due to the pain she was in from recovering from surgery, Judge William McKinnon allowed her to sit during the court proceeding.
The defense said if granted bond, she would be living with her grandmother. Dunn said Miguel was failed by his mother, father, DSS and the system in general. He argued, however, that her child’s death was not a direct result of her actions.
“Mrs. Jackson is not the direct cause of Miguel’s death, it was the actions of Bruce Williams that night that killed Miguel,” Dunn said. “Even if she took appropriate action I don‘t know if anything could have been done to save Miguel because of what Bruce Williams did to that baby.”
Judge William McKinnon denied Jackson’s bond, saying she was a flight risk and a danger to the public.
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