Lamont Hunter pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2006 death of 3-year-old boy

A man who spent more than 15 years on Ohio's death row, accused of killing a child he said fell down a flight of basement stairs, pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

Lamont Hunter, now 54, pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court before Judge Christian Jenkins. He was sentenced to the nearly 17 ½ years he has been incarcerated and was expected to be released Thursday.

It was an unexpected resolution to a case that in recent years showed signs of problems after the deputy coroner who in 2006 ruled the death a homicide changed her opinion based on evidence she hadn’t previously seen.

That deputy coroner's testimony at a 2021 deposition connected to Hunter's appeal led prosecutors this year to agree to vacate Hunter’s convictions on charges of aggravated murder, child endangering and rape, and have a new trial.

Dr. Gretel Stephens, who initially ruled 3-year-old Trustin Blue’s death a homicide, said at the deposition that the manner of death was undetermined. She based her new decision on records she hadn’t previously seen: records of Trustin’s treatment at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and photographs of the basement stairs in Trustin’s home.

Stephens also said that injuries to Trustin she previously attributed to sexual assault were accidentally inflicted by hospital staff trying to insert a thermometer into his rectum.

The plea comes a day after Jenkins set bond for Hunter at $500,000, rejecting prosecutors' request that he be held without bond while awaiting a new trial.

The injuries that led to Trustin's death happened on Jan. 18, 2006.

Hunter said he was doing laundry in the basement of the house in Carthage he shared with Trustin’s mother and four children, when Trustin tumbled down the stairs and landed on the concrete floor.

Prosecutors have said they believe Hunter slammed Trustin against a hard object or struck him with something.

Among Trustin's injuries were bleeding in his brain, retinal hemorrhages and acute brain swelling. The child also had a dislocated disc in his neck.

This story will be updated.