Court docs: Franklin man shook, threw infant daugther
Investigators said 18-year-old Jamison Hendley admitted to shaking and throwing his 2-month-old daughter out of anger.
Court documents released Wednesday reveal that a Johnson County man charged in the death of his 2-month-old daughter admitted to harming the infant because she wouldn't stop crying.
Jamison Cyrus Allan Hendley, 18, of Franklin, was formally charged Wednesday with battery causing death of a child, a Level 2 felony. He was arrested after investigators questioned him about bruises, brain injuries, bleeding and other serious wounds that his daughter, Braelyn R. Hendley, suffered Sept. 30.
Braelyn Hendley was pronounced dead at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health at 4:47 p.m. Sunday, police said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the investigation began around 6 a.m. Oct. 1 when investigators from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office were called to Riley about an infant with life-threatening injuries.
Braelyn Hendley's mother told police that she returned home from work in the early morning hours of Oct. 1 and noticed that her daughter was not breathing properly. The woman told Jamison Hendley, and he told the woman that he was not going with her to take their daughter to the hospital.
Riley officials determined that the child suffered bruising on both arms, seizures, significant brain injury, retinal bleeding and retinal detachment, police said. It was also determined that the injuries are consistent with abuse.
After Braelyn Hendley was hospitalized, police went to Jamison Hendley's Franklin home to speak with him. He agreed to go to the sheriff's office for questioning.
During the interview, Jamsion said he had been watching his daughter the day before when he heard her crying, court documents said. He picked the child in an attempt to calm her down.
Jamison Hendley said he was angry and could have shaken his daughter too hard. He also stated that the child fell from a stroller, and that he may have held her above a chair and "let her go," court documents said.
He went on to say that he was afraid to call 911 because he knew he had done something wrong.
In the wake of Braelyn Hendley's death, police had one more conversation with Jamison Hendley on Wednesday morning, court documents said. It was during this interview that he said he threw his daughter across the room and onto a wicker chair when she wouldn't stop crying.
He said the child fell out of the chair and onto the hardwood floor, court documents said.
Jamison Hendley remains in custody at the Johnson County Jail.
Call Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.