Laila Kirkpatrick, Staff Writer
On Thursday, a court in Montgomery County, Maryland convicted a man from Washington, D.C., of abusing and killing his girlfriend’s 16-month-old boy. Marlon Melendez,30 years old, now faces a potential life sentence plus 65 years according to the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office. The jury convicted Melendez of first-degree child abuse resulting in death, second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse, and second-degree child abuse, according to a news release. The conviction came after a 911 call that was made in March of 2023 where the mother of the 16-month-old boy reported to 911 operators that the boy “was not breathing.” The child was then transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The autopsy conducted revealed signs of abuse including evidence of a previously broken femur. According to the Montgomery County Police Department, surveillance video footage was found from a restaurant where Melendez can be seen pulling “the victim’s hair and repeatedly scratching and digging into the victim’s temple” after the mother briefly left the table. The defendant then “squeezed a lemon in the child’s face and put lemon juice on his finger, then rubbed his finger into the child’s eye,” according to a news release. The report also stated that the boy also appeared to be in distress every time Melendez touched him. State’s attorney John McCarthy made a statement where he expressed his condolences to the family of the victim stating “This is an outrageously sad case involving the loss of a one-year-old baby.”
