A Tuscaloosa woman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for the 2018 beating of her 8-week-old son.
LaKendra Williams pleaded guilty in March to the death of infant Demarious Kamari Henry. On Tuesday, according to Tuscaloosa police, Judge Daniel Pruet handed down her sentence.
In March of 2018, Demarious’s father called 911 in panic.
Police said he told them his son usually cried and fussed when the water was filling the sink for a bath, but that morning the baby remained silent and sleepy.
Demarious was airlifted to Children’s of Alabama, where doctors discovered multiple skull fracture and bleeding in the baby’s brain. Those injuries led to cardiac arrest.
Tuscaloosa police Investigator Dornell Cousette, who less than a year later would be killed in the line of duty, visited Demarious in the hospital on the day the baby turned 8 weeks old.
Williams told Cousette that she had dropped her baby in the kitchen, police said. She later told him she may have elbowed him in her sleep.
“Cousette continued to press her until she admitted to harming the child because he was being whiny,’’’ accord to police and court records.
Demarious was kept on life support until his death more than a year later on Feb. 11, 2019.
Funeral for slain Tuscaloosa Police Detective Dornell Cousette at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa Sunday September 22, 2019. (Carol Robinson photo).Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com
“A few days after, Cousette handed over a tiny onesie and pair of newborn pants to the evidence tech to be stored in the basement at TPD headquarters,’’ according to a Tuscaloosa Police Department post on Wednesday.
“He lost his life in the line of duty seven months later.”
Williams was initially arrested on a domestic violence/assault charge in March of 2018. She was indicted on the murder charge within a week of her son’s death.
“Before his death, Investigator Cousette worked with the medical staff, case workers, the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit and Tuscaloosa County District Attorney’s Office to build a strong case against Demarious’ mother,’’ police said in the Facebook post, which thanked Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Hays Webb for his office’s work in securing a “just punishment.”
“We think Investigator Cousette would have been happy to know justice had been served for Demarious, and for the first-time father who lost his son so young,’’ the post read. “Cousette worked some tough cases, involving some of the most vulnerable victims we come across. His impact is still felt today and will always be remembered.”
