The father of a three-month old who died after claims she fell off his lap twice fracturing her skull, rib, shoulder and arm while he was playing a video game has been convicted of murder.
Jason Gallaway, 32, of Delaware was found guilty of first degree murder by abuse or neglect Thursday. He first reported his daughter Marissa had stopped breathing in December of 2010 at his Seaford home.
A detective testifying in his trial said when he arrived at the home following the infant’s rush to a hospital Gallaway appeared distracted by a Play Station video game that had been left on pause beside him.
A second detective on the stand, Tommy Lee of the Seaford Police Department, called Gallaway a ‘video freak,’ according to Delaware Online, who showed no emotion or response to hearing the news his infant later died from her injuries.
Prosecutors painted a picture of Gallaway beating his daughter, who was placed on life support after diagnosed with several fractures and three bleeds in her brain, after she interrupted his game playing.
When police arrived they found the infant laying on a coffee table and blue.
Gallaway was called Marissa’s primary caregiver while his wife, a high school English teacher, was at work at the time of the incident.
The wife, Heather Gallaway, collapsed to the courtroom’s floor in tears after hearing the jury’s guilty verdict.
Gallaway remained silent, though eh appeared to contort his face to prevent tears.
He faces 15 years to life in prison pending his sentencing on March 23.
Marissa was Gallaway’s wife’s second child and his first.
She had defended her husband throughout the trial supporting his description of being a non-physical man.
Gallaway’s defense argued that they were loving parents who had long-planned for Marissa’s birth.
Following difficulty with her pregnancy the couple said they saw a number of specialists to help.
They provided the court with a nurse and doctor who testified they had checked on their daughter prior to her death, reporting no signs of previous abuse.
Defense attorney Dean Johnson argued that the state was portraying the case as a ‘video freak killing’ without evidence he was playing a video game at the time of Marissa’s accident.
Prosecutors ultimately won the case, however, pointing out that the amount of injuries sustained to the infant could not have been caused by such a short fall as claimed by the defense.
Medical experts testifying claimed her injuries were more consistent with a fall from several stories up.
