Frank Lewis

PDT Staff Writer

The prosecution in the murder trial of Brandon Wilson dropped a bombshell Thursday, when the video interrogation of the defendant by Scioto County Sheriff’s Detective Jodi Conkel produced a segment in which he acknowledged that he had shaken the baby whose death he is accused of causing.

After several hours of insisting nothing, other than some earlier falls had occured, the conversation changed.

Wilson was describing the day the baby was unresponsive and Conkel left the room to get a doll for him to demonstrate on.

Wilson: “I was telling him, ‘Neylan,’ you know. I was just trying to get him—get him to respond to me, because he was just, like, holding to my arms.”

Conkel: “Okay. And when—”

Wilson: “So I was just talking to him. And I was kind of holding his head up like this, (holding the doll with its head in his hand) because his head kept flopping, because he was just—he was just out of it. But his eyes were still open. But you know—he was awake, but he wasn’t awake. You know? I can’t explain it.”

Conkel: “Just like he was staring into space or something?”

Wilson: “Yeah, like he was staring in to space, but his body was all limp. But he was seizing, so it was kind of up like this, but he was—you know, he was unresponsive. His head was going everywhere. I was just trying to talk to him, trying to get him to stop doing what he was doing.”

Conkel: “Okay.”

Wilson: “I was trying to get him to stop from—I was grabbing his hands and stuff, trying to pull them open, because he was holding them so tight, like this, in a fist. I was just talking to him, trying to get him to stop doing that, because it was freaking me out.”

Conkel: “Okay. And show me how you shook him to get him to respond.”

Wilson: “Like this (indicating with the doll a shaking motion).”

Conkel: “So you were shaking him like that?”

Wilson: “Yeah.”

Conkel: “Okay. And how long do you think that went on?”

Wilson: “I don’t know. It was probably a couple of minutes.”

Earlier in the interview when Wilson began to acknowledge that he had shaken the baby somewhat, Wilson said - “But I was not shaking that baby to hurt the baby or anything like that. I was just concerned about—you know what I mean? It was just—he was limp. It seemed like he was dead already when he was laying there.”

Later in the interview, he reiterated - “Well, I don’t really know how—I was not shaking him, like, really forcefully, but I was just trying to get him to wake up.”

Wilson is accused in the Shaken Baby Syndrome death of 10-month-old Neylan Wilson, the child of his girlfriend, Tierra Simeona. Conkel was questioning Wilson because he, the three-year-old sibling and the baby were reportedly the only people in the house when authorities insist some incident that resulted in the extreme injury occurred.

The child died later on Nov. 19, 2012, at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, suffering from a skull fracture, cranial hemmoraging and retinal hemmoraging.

The trial continues on Monday, and Scioto County Common Pleas Judge William T. Marshall, informed the jury Friday morning they could receive the case for deliberations on Monday.

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 252, or at flewis@civitasmedia.com.