Jemone Williams appeared this morning for the first time in court. A judge raised his bond from $30,000 to $200,000. Investigators say Williams hit and shook his four-month-old baby inside a northwest Harris County apartment Tuesday, causing injuries which eventually killed the infant.
An eyewitness who didn't want to be identified says he saw the child's mother rush to the apartment as emergency crews scrambled to get the baby to the hospital.
The witness recalled, "They was saying he wasn't breathing and she went with the kid."
Child Protective Services says Williams told detectives the child fell while he was giving him a bath. "He dropped his baby and it was an accident," said Quemony Stewart, a friend of the suspect. "He wouldn't intentionally kill his child."
Officials also tell us the mother and father were living in a vacant apartment. We found the front door wide open here today.
CPS also says the child was not supposed to be with its mother unsupervised. The baby was taken away at birth when both he and the mother tested positive for PCP. A judge granted custody to the baby's maternal grandmother. Everything was going well, a CPS spokesperson says. They don't know what they baby was doing at the family's home without the grandmother.
"We don't know if she was just letting the child go over unsupervised with the mother of if she actually gave him back and he was living with the mother without our knowledge," said CPS spokesperson Estella Olguin.
It is possible the child's mother and grandmother could now face criminal charges.
According to the Louisiana Department of Corrections, Williams was convicted of burglary in August 2008. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but the judge probated the sentence, giving him three years probation. He is now wanted for probation violation in Louisiana for absconding.