Michigan – A Michigan parent and her partner, 25-year-old AIisha HoIIamon and 23-year-old Avon TrayIor, were sentenced after pleading guiIty last month to second-degree murder in the death of woman’s chiId, Deshaun. The parent received a prison term of twenty to forty years and her partner was sentenced to twenty eight to sixty years. Both entered guilty pleas to second-degree murder as part of plea agreements that replaced earlier charges, and the judge presiding over the case said he believed the defendants deserved the higher ends of the ranges they were given.
Police and prosecutors say the events that led to the 7-year-oId’s death unfolded in Oct. 2023, when Michigan authorities responded to the family’s home. First responders found the child with extensive injuries and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The prosecutor’s office later described the injuries as blunt force trauma to the head and peIvis, and investigators reported evidence of prior, repeated abuse. According to the prosecutors, the child’s injuries looked as though he was dragged across a rough surface.
Prosecutors also told the court that video and other evidence captured scenes of the child in distress; during pre-sentencing hearings the judge said he had viewed video in which the child could be heard “crying for his life.” Those findings informed the original charges of felony murder, first-degree child abuse and torture, which were later resolved through the plea deals. Michigan authorities said the man inflicted the abuse on the boy, and the child’s mom stood around and did nothing.
During court proceedings prosecutors summarized the scope of the evidence without releasing exhaustive details to the public. Assistant prosecutors told the court that the victim had been “absolutely brutaIized,” and noted injuries consistent with both a single fatal event and scarring consistent with prior abuse. The plea agreements reduced the number of counts the defendants faced in exchange for their guilty pleas to second-degree murder; prosecutors and the judge said the records and videos played a central role in the decision to accept the pleas and move to sentencing.
The judge said the woman facilitated her child’s abuse and that both defendants had given inconsistent accounts, and he rejected a claim made by the woman’s attorney that she had been a victim of domestic abuse who was acting under duress. Prosecutors and the judge also said that at times the defendants were not truthful to investigators. The mother’s parther later attempted to withdraw his guilty plea; a motion to do so was denied after the judge reviewed the plea colloquy and found the plea had been voluntarily entered.
The child’s family member delivered a victim impact statement at sentencing describing the family’s loss and calling the crime “sick”, remarks that the judge and prosecution cited when explaining the seriousness of the offense.
