Jury convicts man of fatally beating his 3-year-old son
Ronnie B. Paris Jr. was always hitting his son, said witnesses. The verdict is second-degree murder.
By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
Published July 15, 2005
TAMPA - A Tampa man accused of beating his 3-year-old son to death was convicted of second-degree murder Thursday.
Jurors deliberated a little more than three hours before finding Ronnie B. Paris Jr. guilty of the killing and of aggravated child abuse.
Paris' conviction comes seven months after his son died at St. Joseph's Hospital. The toddler was rushed to the hospital on Jan. 22, a day after his mother said she saw Paris, 21, slam the boy against the wall at a friend's home. The toddler died six days later, after he was taken off life support.
The beating was not the first the boy had endured. Family and friends testified during the emotional four-day trial that Paris sometimes got rough while play fighting with the boy. Real men are tough, he told friends who scolded him about the roughhousing. He said he wanted his son to grow up to be a real man, not a "sissy," witnesses testified.
Little Ronnie never got a chance to grow into a man. Instead, his short life was punctuated by bruises, broken bones and visits to the hospital. The abuse led the state Department of Children and Families to place the child in foster care in May 2002, when he was 5 months old.
Faye Bing, the boy's foster mother, told jurors this week the toddler thrived during the two-plus years he lived in her Bradenton home. DCF caseworkers returned him to his parents' Tampa home after Paris and the boy's mother, Nysheerah Paris, completed a parenting course.
The homecoming was not a happy one. Shortly after little Ronnie's return, the roughhousing began again, the boy's mother said. On one occasion, she saw Paris hit the boy in the back of the head three times, she told jurors. Soon after, he was taken to the hospital twice for vomiting spells.
Paris complained that his sex life had suffered after the boy returned, the boy's mother testified during the trial.
"He said I wasn't studding him," she said.
Paris repeated his complaint to a Tampa police officer during a break in a station house interview that ended with his arrest on Feb. 1. Tampa police Detective Jackie Potenziano told jurors Tuesday that Paris also worried that he would lose his job with the city's wastewater department because of the abuse charges.
An autopsy revealed that the blows Paris inflicted on his son caused severe head trauma that eventually led to his death.
Thursday's verdict was a slight departure from the prosecution's recommendation that Paris be convicted of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Defense attorney Kenn Littman said he was disappointed at the conviction but thought the proceedings were fair. Littman remained hopeful Thursday that Paris' church activism and family support could help mitigate his sentence. Paris could still get life in prison for his crimes. Paris showed no reaction when the verdict was delivered. His father and mother held their heads high as the jury's decision was read. Outside court, they accused the toddler's mother of twisting the truth about what happened and vowed to support their son.
"I didn't raise my son that way," said Paris' father, Ronnie B. Paris Sr. "He's always got our love, heart and dreams. We're all going to be there 100 percent for him."
