A mother left a judge in stunned silence after defending the man convicted of murdering her 13-week-old baby son.
Traveon Hughes Sr, 20, pleaded his innocence throughout his trial over the death of his son Traveon Jr, who choked to death on a baby wipe in June 2022.
After a jury convicted him this week of purposefully and fatally shoving the baby wipe down the infant’s throat, the baby’s mother Acieiona McEwan took to the stand at Hughes’ sentencing to condemn the court’s decision.
‘Y’all is making a mistake,’ she said. ‘Y’all know what y’all did to my child, and y’all are not going to get away with this.’
McEwan warned the court that ‘God gets the last word’ and has reportedly argued that medical professionals are to blame for her son’s death, as she was not the only one from Hughes’ family pleading his innocence.
The convicted killer’s mother, Sandra Norwood, told the court: ‘Ohio is going to get sick of me, because justice will prevail.’
On Friday, Hughes was found guilty of murder, involuntary manslaughter, and child endangerment, as prosecutors argued that he shoved the baby wipe down his son’s throat to stop him from crying.
The tragedy unfolded on June 25, 2022, two days after Hughes and McEwan moved from Chicago to Cleveland when they were both 18 years old.
Traveon Jr. was just 13 weeks old when he choked to death, with Hughes at home with his brother and girlfriend with the baby while McEwan was at work.
During the trial, Hughes testified in his own defense to claim that his baby son accidentally choked on the wipe, repots Cleveland.com.
He claimed he replaced a bib on his son’s chest with the wipe after he spilled milk on it, but left the room for a short time to tend to wounds he suffered in a shooting in Chicago in December 2021, where he was shot 19 times in his legs and body.
When he returned, Hughes said he found his son choking on the wipe, and the infant was still alive when paramedics arrived.
The baby, who was born 13 weeks premature and was the size of a newborn, was later pronounced dead at hospital, where medics reportedly found the wipe still lodged in his throat.
Hughes maintained his innocence throughout the trial, and his attorney said at his sentencing that they ‘disagree’ with the jury’s decision, adding: ‘He did not recklessly or purposefully shove a baby wipe down his baby’s throat.’
Prosecutors countered that Traveon Jr. was too small to put the wipe in his own mouth and was not developed enough to even ball it up.
Images were shown to the court of his small hands, as Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Kerry Sowul argued he was too weak to have caused his own death.
‘These precious little hands did not have the ability to pick up that wipe and shove it in his mouth, let alone ball it up and push it that far in,’ she said.
At his sentencing, the judge imposed the maximum punishment sought by prosecutors – life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Following the hearing, McEwan and Norwood said they blame the doctors at the hospital for mishandling the infant’s treatment.
They claimed to have been prevented from collecting the baby’s remains, and McEwan said she only learned earlier this year that her son was cremated – and still does not know where his ashes are.
While McEwan made her feelings over Hughes’ innocence known, her own family slammed her at the sentencing for her outburst.
Her uncle Martrelle Wilcox said he just wanted justice for his great nephew, and told the court via videolink that Hughes ‘doesn’t deserve to see the light of day.’
‘I don’t usually wish jail on my worst enemy, but that boy couldn’t even defend himself,’ he said.
McEwan’s father Acie also criticized his daughter’s remarks on the sentencing, telling her to ‘stop trying to take up for that man – he killed that baby.’