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Prosecutor plans new trial in death of infant ‘who didn’t have a chance’

A judge on Wednesday declared a hung jury on the sixth day of deliberations in the felony murder case of Lovily Johnson, a 23-year-old Wyoming woman accused in the July, 2017 neglect death of her infant son.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The inability of a Kent County jury to reach a verdict in a felony murder trial after deliberating for six days “speaks to the nature of the overcharging,’’ the attorney for accused child killer Lovily Johnson said Wednesday.

‘’It’s been clear from the beginning that this was a tragedy, not a murder,’’ defense attorney Jonathan Schildgen said. “The government has been taught a lesson. They might not like it, but it’s true.’’

After deliberating nearly 30 hours since last week, the foreperson in Johnson’s felony murder trial told Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock there was no point in going on.

“Ma'am, do you think further deliberations would help you in this matter or not?’’ Trusock asked the jury foreperson mid-morning Wednesday.

“We do not, your honor,’’ she responded.

The judge thanked the panel of seven women and five men. He then excused them from his 11th floor courtroom.

“I realize this has been a very long process; you folks have invested a lot of time and effort,'' the judge said. “I want to thank you very much for your involvement. We’ll set this matter for another trial and go from there.’’

A new trial has been set for the week after Thanksgiving. It will commence with jury selection on Nov. 26.

Johnson, 23, was charged last summer with felony murder and first-degree child abuse for the death of her six-month-old son, Noah.

Felony murder is punishable by mandatory life in prison; first-degree child abuse is punishable by any number of years up to life.

Investigators say the boy had been dead for about a day before Johnson brought him to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids on July 19, 2017. A doctor testified last week that Noah's body temperature was 82 degrees; normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees.

"He was not breathing, he had no pulse,'' Dr. Barbara Wynn testified. "There was a very foul smell to him.''

Noah was left strapped in a car seat for 32 hours in an attic bedroom at Johnson's home on McKee Avenue near 26th Street SW, police said. The child weighed only 12 pounds when he died.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said he is ready to try the case again.

“I can’t say I’m going to completely do anything differently because the facts are what the facts are,’’ Becker said. “A child died; a six-month-old baby who didn’t have a chance.’’

Schildgen asked Trusock to release Johnson on a personal recognizance bond. The judge denied the request.

Outside the courtroom, Schildgen said he will oppose a second trial, but said he doubts it will have any effect.

“The government does what it wants,’’ he said. “And when they want blood, they go for blood.’’

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