A drug-addled dad with a fondness for weed and video games faces 3-to-9 years in prison for suffocating his son beneath a pile of blankets during an afternoon of stoned babysitting.
Claude Tinnin, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the March 22, 2018 death of his tiny son August, who was wrapped in layers of blankets and placed face-down in his crib after mom Antoinette Fleming left the boy alone with the father in her Lower East Side apartment.
Tinnin confessed to creating a lethal cocoon of covers to keep the child warm after opening a window to clear the apartment of his marijuana smoke. Tinnin acknowledged getting high and playing video games while left to watch his son.
“He wrapped up his son’s entire body and left him in the room ... put covers on him like (the baby) had a hoodie on,” said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg.
The little boy was pronounced dead at NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital one day after his unresponsive body was found.
According to Blumberg, Tinnin was in violation of a restraining order over two previous arrests when he visited the Manhattan apartment last year.
He was arrested in 2016 for slugging the mom with a closed first in the back and the leg, and again a year later after an incident where the same woman told cops that she was struck in the face, the assistant district attorney charged. At the time of the second incident, the woman was pregnant with August.
Defense attorney Wilfredo Sta. Ana said his client was “truly sorry” for the reckless behavior that killed the infant. The sentence came with a concurrent term of 2⅓ to 7 years for aggravated criminal contempt, and an 8-year order of protection keeping Tinnin away from Fleming and her two other sons.
Dope-smoking dad faces 3-to-9 year sentence in death of 8-month-old son during night of weed, video games
A drug-addled dad with a fondness for weed and video games faces 3-to-9 years in prison for suffocating his son beneath a pile of blankets during an afternoon of stoned babysitting. Claude Tinnin, …
www.nydailynews.com
Defense lawyer Wilfredo Sta. Ana argued for a sentence of one to three years behind bars, saying Tinnin “made a horrible mistake” and is also a victim.
“He too is a victim in this case because he must live with the fact his reckless behavior resulted in his child’s death,” St. Ana said.
Antoinette Fleming, the boy’s mother, was in the courtroom Tuesday to support her boyfriend. The couple share two children, whom authorities have since placed in the care of an uncle.
Tinnin also copped to aggravated criminal contempt for violating an order of protection barring him from contact with his girlfriend and kids at the time of the tragedy.
The protective order stemmed from allegations he roughed her up when she was pregnant, but the charges were later dropped.
Tinnin is due back in court Sept. 10 for sentencing.
Dad pleads guilty to suffocating his infant with blankets while high
A Bronx father pleaded guilty Tuesday to suffocating his 8-month-old son with blankets — in exchange for three to nine years in prison. Claude Tinnin, 21, copped to one count of second-degree mansl…
nypost.com
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