Left: Brianna Simmons. Right: Michael Yharbrough (Detroit Police Department).
A Michigan mom let her boyfriend beat and torture her 3-year-old son, with prosecutors saying she took the boy to different medical facilities to hide the abuse until he eventually died.
The boyfriend, Michael Yharbrough, 25, of Detroit, was convicted Monday on charges of felony murder, torture and first-degree child abuse, according to online court records.
The mother, Brianna Simmons, took a plea deal in May and testified against Yharbrough as part of the agreement. She had charges of first-degree murder, first-degree child abuse and torture dismissed in exchange for a second-degree child abuse charge.
Speaking in court last year at Simmons” arraignment, assistant Wayne County prosecutor Brittany Johnson said, “Her 3-year-old child died in March of this year after multiple removals by CPS, and the child was returned to his mother, Miss Simmons, and the co-defendant, Mr. Michael Yharbrough, in this case,” local Fox affiliate WJBK reported.
Johnson told the court that Simmons’ son was “removed again and again, each time with additional broken bones, which are only alleged to have happened after Miss Simmons allowed this individual to move into her home and stay in her home and continue assaulting her child.”
It’s unclear why the child was repeatedly returned to Simmons by Child Protective Services. The agency did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment.
Prosecutors said that when Yharbrough beat and injured the boy, Simmons would take him to different medical facilities for treatment to cover up the abuse. She allegedly visited at least five medical facilities before her son died.
“She aided and abetted her co-defendant, and it led to this child’s ultimate death,” Johnson said in court.
Prosecutors have recommended that Simmons be sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation. She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 23. Yharbrough’s sentencing is set for June 26.
