2005 Joliet Baby Death: Was It Murder Or An Accident?

JOLIET, IL — More than 12 years ago, Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow issued a news release calling Joliet resident Dymarion Porter "a callous and brutal monster" after Porter was convicted of first-degree murder.

“Dymarion Porter ... snuffed out the life of an innocent little boy,” Glasgow said in his news release. “The judge’s sentence will put Porter behind bars for a long time where he won’t have an opportunity to harm another child.”

In 2008, Porter got a 34-year prison sentence and was ordered to serve 100 percent of his sentence.

For the past several years, however, Porter has remained a free man after the Joliet resident's murder conviction was overturned by the Illinois Court of Appeals in 2011.

Over the course of several months, Porter has been retried on first-degree murder charges in front of Will County Circuit Judge David Carlson. All the testimony is finished.

In the coming days, Carlson is expected to issue his verdict. Porter is being represented by private practice Joliet criminal defense attorneys Neil Patel and Chuck Bretz of Bretz, Flynn & Associates.

Back in October 2007, Porter took his case to a bench trial in front of Will County Circuit Judge Richard Schoenstedt, who found Porter guilty of first-degree murder in the Halloween 2005 death of 16-month-old Jordan Gentry.

According to the Will County State's Attorney's Office, Porter, then 25, was taking a shower when his girlfriend handed him her 16-month-old child, Jordan, for his cleaning.

Jordan was in good health when given to Porter, who lived in the 200 block of Joliet's Sherry Lane.

After the shower, Porter put Jordan to sleep for a nap. A few hours later, Jordan was not breathing. He had died. The 2008 sentencing documents indicate that Jordan died from blunt force trauma to his stomach and bled to death internally.

Will County's prosecutors maintain there was evidence of Jordan being choked.

"The defendant gave a statement that was mostly inquisitive in nature," court records show.

According to the court of appeals, Joliet Police Detective Brian Lewis responded to the Porter house around 1 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2005.

"When they spoke at Porter’s home, Porter was not sure what had happened to Jordan but said that he may have choked on some shampoo in the shower," court documents state. "Lewis asked Porter to come to the station for further questioning."

During a six-hour interview at the Joliet Police Station with three detectives, "Porter gave a variety of explanations regarding Jordan’s injuries, including that Jordan slipped in the shower and Porter caught him under the arm and neck area."

On Nov. 1, 2005, Porter called the Joliet detective, saying he wanted to talk more.

During the follow-up four-hour interview, Porter told Joliet police he generally felt responsible for Jordan's death, court files show, telling detectives, “if anything did happen to him and that anything that happened to him was unintentional.”

Joliet detectives testified Porter said he accidentally stepped on Jordan’s stomach when Jordan slipped and was on the floor of the bathtub.

“I killed him. I killed him. I’m guilty, I’m responsible," a Joliet police detective testified that Porter told him back in 2005.

The Illinois Court of Appeals, in reversing the original murder conviction, noted that Porter was confused about what had happened and was upset during the interview with Joliet police, at times crying with his head on the table.

"In summary, we are troubled by the conviction in this case," the Illinois court of appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision in 2011. "However, this court reviews a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence by determining whether, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Under that high standard, we cannot find that the evidence was insufficient to find Porter guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."