BARTOW – A Polk County jury deliberated about two hours Friday before finding 22-year-old Adrianna Noelle Bradley guilty in the death of an 8-month-old boy left in her care.
Bradley faces up to 45 years in prison for aggravated child abuse and manslaughter. Sentencing will be March 16.
On the morning of Sept. 23, 2015, Kristen Betts had dropped off her son, Jaxon, with Bradley, her friend who had been caring for the infant since May while Betts was at work. That afternoon, Bradley called Betts to say Jaxon wasn’t breathing. Paramedics tried to revive him, as did emergency room physicians at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, but the baby never responded.
An autopsy revealed he died of brain swelling after being violently shaken, court records show.
Bradley, who is several months pregnant, betrayed no emotion as the court clerk read the jury’s verdict Friday, but in other parts of the courtroom, members of Jaxon’s family softly cried.
Circuit Judge Wayne Durden ordered that Bradley, who had been free on $6,500 bail since the day after her September 2015 arrest, be taken into custody until her sentencing.
“I’m happy, and a little surprised the right thing was done,” said Kristen Betts after court adjourned. “The only thing that could make this any better was if she would tell the exact truth.”
She said she and her husband, Brandon, have another son now, Elijah, who’s 8 months old.
Brandon Betts sobbed after the leaving the courtroom.
“Knowing that she’s guilty sets in stone that that’s what really happened,” he said. “I didn’t want to believe it.”
In closing arguments earlier Friday, Assistant State Attorney Ashley McCarthy attacked the defense argument that the baby’s death was accidental.
“It’s the violent shaking and the impact that caused that subdural hematoma,” she said, referencing the brain bleed that contributed to the child’s death. “That’s an intentional act. You just don’t mistakenly shake a baby.”
But Bartow lawyer Kelley Collier, representing Bradley, told jurors an act that violent was out of character for his client.
“She’s not the kind of person to get easily agitated,” he said. “She’s not the type to suddenly lose it for no particular reason other than the child was a little more fussy than usual.”
Collier said Bradley had experience working part-time in a church day care, and had been caring for Jaxon along with her own son, then 10-month-old Michael, for nearly five months before Jaxon died.
“What possible reason would there be for Adrianna Bradley to harm this child,” he told jurors in his closing argument.
During the trial, Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Vera Volnikh, Polk County’s associate medical examiner, testified that the infant’s death wasn’t an accident.
When Jaxon died, Bradley had told deputies she had put him down for a nap about 2 p.m., and when she checked on him 15 minutes later, he wasn’t breathing, was cold to the touch and his lips were blue, according to court testimony. She called the child’s mother, then called 911.
McCarthy told jurors Friday that Bradley waited eight minutes before calling 911.
“That behavior is not consistent with someone who’s trying to save a child’s life,” she said.
In later interviews with Polk County Sheriff’s deputies, Bradley said Jaxon had fallen earlier in the day while trying to stand up, and he had struck the side of his head on the floor, McCarthy said. Bradley hadn’t mentioned that in her initial discussions with authorities, she said.
“She’s trying to cover up what happened,” she said.
But Collier said her actions demonstrated that she didn’t consider the fall to be serious.
“At the time, she didn’t ascribe any importance to it,” he said. “She wouldn’t think to mention it at first.”
In his closing argument, Collier attacked the state medical examiner’s opinion that Jaxon’s injuries resulted solely from shaking him.
“There isn’t the evidence to support her conclusion that the only way this child died was shaking,” he said.
He pointed to testimony of a former medical examiner for Duval County who testified for the defense that the infant’s injury could have happened during a fall.
Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.