A pediatrician who examined Mikel Fetterman just days after he was hospitalized with serious head injuries in March 2020 testified Friday the child was the victim of physical abuse and potentially a sexual assault.
Dr. Jennifer Clarke works at a hospital in New York, but three years ago, she was a child abuse specialist at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. When she examined Mikel, she found the boy had skull fractures, brain injuries and bruises throughout his body that were caused by blunt force trauma and being shaken.
“When put all together, there were lots of different forces that caused his head injuries. The blunt force and shaking forces all together led to his severe injuries,” Clarke testified during a pretrial hearing in Westmoreland County Court for the man accused of killing the child.
Keith Dale Lilly Jr., 34, of New Kensington is awaiting trial on charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, child endangerment, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and other offenses in connection with Mikel’s death.
The child was just a month shy of his third birthday when he was hospitalized March 26, 2020, with life-threatening injuries. He died about a month later.
Westmoreland County prosecutors contend Lilly was left alone to care for the child while the boy’s mother was asleep in another room. Police said they found the child unresponsive and in cardiac arrest as Lilly attempted to resuscitate the toddler. The boy’s mother, Theresa Fetterman, stood nearby and cried.
Lilly claimed the boy fell off a couch, according to police.
Theresa Fetterman, 26, now of Lower Burrell, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, child endangerment and other offenses in connection with the boy’s death. During a court appearance last month, Fetterman’s lawyer said she was cooperating with prosecutors and would testify at Lilly’s trial.
The boy’s maternal grandfather last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau, claiming the child welfare agency failed to protect the boy after it received allegations he was physically and sexually assaulted by his mother and her live-in boyfriend. Lilly and Fetterman also were named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Lilly contends the child’s injuries were sustained during prior assaults by others while also suggesting the boy was hurt when he fell down concrete steps or while at a local playground. His lawyers said the criminal homicide and sexual assault charges are unwarranted and asked Westmoreland County Judge Scott Mears to dismiss those offenses.
Clarke testified the child’s injuries were not caused by an accidental fall. She said that his injuries were new and not ones that he suffered weeks earlier.
“The reason he died was because of his head injuries,” Clarke said. “He was physically abused.”
Assistant District Attorney Judi Petrush argued the case against Lilly should be decided by a jury.
“The evidence is that the defendant had exclusive custody of Mikel at 10 p.m. that night. Theresa Fetterman went into the bedroom, and Keith Lilly had exclusive custody when Mikel sustained the injuries,” Petrush said.
Lilly has been in custody since his arrest in 2020. His trial has not been scheduled.
Mears did not rule on the defense motion to have the homicide and sex charge dismissed. The judge asked lawyers to submit written legal arguments over the next several months with a decision expected in the fall.
