King County prosecutors on Friday added charges against the stepfather of a 14-year-old boy, arguing that his failure to intervene contributed to the fatal beating allegedly carried out by the boy’s mother last month.
Earlier this month, 29-year-old Denaya Young was charged with second-degree murder after her son, Jemiere Robinson, was found in her Beacon Hill home with more than 1,000 injuries.
Initially, prosecutors charged Young alone, but on Friday they also filed second-degree murder charges against 27-year-old Khailil Graham, the boy’s stepfather.
Although Graham and Young are not legally married, they present themselves as husband and wife, and Graham stated to police that he was responsible for raising the boy, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In addition to the murder charge, Graham faces a first-degree manslaughter charge by way of criminal mistreatment. Young has pleaded not guilty.
Robinson was discovered unresponsive on January 30, and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that he had suffered from sudden inflammatory response syndrome—a condition in which the body diverts blood to too many injured areas, leaving insufficient supply for the heart. When asked why she had beaten the boy, Young reportedly told police it was because he did not do his chores, as detailed in the court documents.