Man Arraigned In Beating Death Of 3-Year-Old Jeida Torres In Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A New York City man accused of beating his 3-year-old stepdaughter to death has been arraigned at a hospital.
Kelsey Smith, 20, was ordered held without bail on second-degree murder and other charges during a closed-circuit video arraignment Wednesday.
Smith gave one-word answers to the judge and let his lawyer do most of the talking Wednesday, CBS 2's Matt Kozar reported.
Attorney Craig Newman was at his side at the hospital, but did not speak about the allegations. He did not respond to CBS 2's request for comment.
The medical examiner's office said blunt impact injuries to the head and torso were to blame for Jeida Torres' death over the weekend.
Smith was watching the girl and her brother Saturday while their mother was at work, police said.
The girl's 5-year-old brother told detectives Smith kicked Jeida, banged her head against a bed frame and choked her, police said. The boy told investigators the beating at a Brooklyn homeless shelter was prompted after the child soiled her diaper, police said.
According to court documents, Smith called the child's mother and admitted to hitting the toddler, who wasn't breathing.
Police found Smith at a relative's Queens apartment, where he allegedly tried to slit his wrists. He remains hospitalized at Bellevue Hospital.
Doctors are treating 5-year-old Andrew at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center where relatives tell Kozar he is doing well.
"I know my nephew did what he could to protect her., like he was the best big brother anybody could have asked for," the children's uncle Alejandro Hernandez-Torres said. "Right now, he's with his father as he should be."
Hernandez-Torres added to the growing memorial of pink balloons, a doll in a cradle and Hello Kitty outside the Bushwick homeless shelter where Jeida died.
Police said Smith had 15 prior arrests, including one for assault.
He is due back in court on Friday.
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