A Southwest Side man who claims he was trying to burp his girlfriend’s 4-month-old son when he allegedly administered blows that killed the infant was released on a personal recognizance bond Wednesday.
Phillip Haley, 23, of 4854 S. Throop St., Chicago, has been charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 9, death of Gabriel Padilla.
A pathologist found the infant had suffered injuries consistent with having been shaken or thrown.
However, his death was not ruled a homicide until Friday, after the Cook County medical examiner’s office had consulted a neurologist about the injuries.
Gabriel was the 62nd child under the age of 15 to be killed in the Chicago area in 1993.
Prosecutor Ron Weidhuner told Cook County Circuit Judge Robert Bastone that when Gabriel began to cry after 1 a.m. on Nov. 9., his mother, Danielle Padilla, 22, gave Haley a bottle for Gabriel, Weidhuner said. When Haley returned to bed, Gabriel began to cry again, Weidhuner said.
Weidhuner said Haley sat Gabriel on his knees, then hit the baby about 30 times on his back, trying to make him burp.
The baby kept crying, so Haley gave the baby a pacifier. Haley later took the baby into the living room and struck the baby an additional 21 times, still trying to make him burp, Weidhuner said.
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Later that morning, Padilla found the baby, pale and not breathing, on a sofa, Weidhuner said. Gabriel was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Assistant Public Defender Marijane Hemza-Placek said Padilla may have blamed Haley to save herself from blame. Padilla has already been charged with abuse and neglect of her two other children, said Hemza-Placek. Those children were placed in DCFS custody last week.