Tuesday, April 06, 1999
Damon's uncle accused of murder in nephew's death
New law allows charge to be added
BY MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
James D. Adams has become the third person in Hamilton County charged under a new state law, allowing authorities to charge a suspect with murder when the main offense is one of violence.
Mr. Adams, 38, of Forest Park, is accused of causing the death of his 4-year-old nephew, Damon Adams, by leaving the boy locked in an unventilated pickup truck for 12 hours while he went to work.
Mr. Adams also faces charges of kidnapping, involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.
“The underlying offense in this case is kidnapping,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said Monday. “That allows us to charge him with murder.”
The kidnapping count applies to restraining a person under the age of 13, causing serious physical harm. If convicted of the murder charge, Mr. Adams could face 15 years to life in prison, officials said. He is being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center pending arraignment.
The new law is meant to curb “casual acts of violence” that kill someone by expanding the definition of murder to include someone who causes the death of another while committing a “felony of the first or second degree,” officials said. Without the law, they said, involuntary manslaughter would have been the toughest charge prosecutors could level in this case.
Others who have been charged in Hamilton County under this new law are James L. Clark, 21, who is accused of fatally shooting his father, James Clark Sr., during a Jan. 19 street fight in Over-the-Rhine, and Winton Place resident Balanda L. Moore, 29, who officials say beat to death her 7-year-old daughter, Jasmine A. Wilkerson, on Feb. 13.
Though Mr. Adams has told investigators he kept his nephew in his truck because he had trouble finding adequate child care, the investigation into Damon's death is not over.
Forest Park Police Lt. Don Simpson said Monday that investigators are still looking into an October incident when Damon was left home alone and found by neighbors after he got out of his uncle's house.
Although Hamilton County's Children's Services cleared Mr. Adams of any wrongdoing in that incident, police are trying to determine whether there really was a baby sitter there at the time who left the boy alone.
Family members also said they noticed marks on Damon's wrists, but authorities would not confirm whether Damon had been physically restrained inside his uncle's truck.
Mr. Adams, a manager at a Kroger store in Madeira, brought his nephew to the Forest Park Fire Department's West Kemper Road station in the early morning hours of March 17 for emergency care.
Rescue workers could not revive Damon and it was later determined that he died as a result of hyperthermia and dehydration.
Mr. Adams' attorney, Raymond Faller, could not be reached for comment Monday.
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