THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2005

D.A. BROWN: QUEENS MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER IN BEATING DEATH OF SEVEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
Faces Up to Life in Prison

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown today announced that a Rockaway man has been charged with murder in the beating death of his seven-year-old daughter in their home last month.

District Attorney Brown said, “According to the charges, the defendant caused the death of his young daughter by severely beating her on several different occasions and thereafter refusing to seek medical attention for her. The defendant’s attack on his innocent and vulnerable daughter was both heartless and heartbreaking and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

District Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Russell Roberts, 43, of 72-21 Hillmeyer Avenue in Rockaway, Queens, employed as a stockperson at Michael’s Arts and Crafts. The defendant has been charged with Murder in the Second Degree, Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Assault in the First Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child and faces up to 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.

The District Attorney said that a criminal complaint charges that on the evening of October 23, 2005 at the defendant’s residence, he is alleged to have repeatedly slammed his knee into the abdomen of his daughter, Sierra Roberts. The complaint further alleges that the following evening, the defendant bent his daughter over a bed, placing her abdomen against the edge of the bed, and then repeatedly and forcefully beat her buttocks with a belt.

District Attorney Brown said that, based upon statements of the defendant, after slamming his knee into his daughter’s abdomen, he observed her to be visibly in pain on the evening of October 23 and the morning of October 24, 2005, and that he failed to get medical attention for her. On the morning of October 25, 2005, Sierra Roberts was transported by ambulance to a local Queens hospital as a result of a 911 call and was pronounced dead within minutes of her arrival.

The District Attorney said that “The defendant was initially arrested on November 4, 2005 and arraigned on assault and child endangerment charges based upon preliminary evidence. Bail was set at $100,000. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has now performed an autopsy and determined that the cause of death was complications of blunt force trauma to the torso, with a laceration of the small intestine, fractured ribs, and the manner of death was homicide. Based thereon the charges have been elevated and the defendant was arrested yesterday at his brother’s residence. The defendant is being held for arraignment later today in Queens Criminal Court in Kew Gardens at which time we will ask that he be remanded without bail.

The investigation was conducted by Detective Charles Rizzuto of the New York City Police Department’s 100 Precinct Detective Squad under the supervision of Sergeant Bronco Yurisak and Detective Edward Wilkowski of the NYPD’S Queens Homicide Squad under the supervision of Sergeant Oscar Ferrufino.

Assistant District Attorney Marjory D. Fisher, Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau is prosecuting the case under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Charles A. Testagrossa and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Major Crimes Daniel A. Saunders.

It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.