Demarco Murphy was convicted of Aggravated Assault after shaking his infant son, causing a brain bleed in June 2015. District Attorney Joe Mulholland tried the case for the prosecution with Judge Heather Lanier presiding.

“We are pleased with the verdict,” Mulholland said. “I felt like Public Safety did a real good job putting together the case. The jury was very attentive and conscientious in its deliberations and we can’t thank the medical doctors enough.”

Murphy was originally charged with aggravated assault of an infant and cruelty to children, but he was found innocent of the second charge.

“Aggravated assault is basically that you assault a child and in this case, it was alleged that he assaulted his six-month old child and caused a brain bleed,” Mulholland said. “Cruelty to children in the first degree is basically that he caused the child cruel or excessive physical or mental pain.”

Mulholland said that he believes the jury finding Murphy guilty of one charge and innocent of the other was a compromise between the jurors.

“Based on those charges and the similarity between the elements, it sounds like it might have been a compromise verdict,” he said. “That is where some of the folks basically compromise on the verdict and find him guilty of one count and not two. That is pure conjecture, but that’s what I would think based on the facts of the case.”

As witnesses for the state, Mulholland called two doctors, one local and one from Tallahassee, who testified about the extant of the injuries suffered by the child.

Murphy is facing between three and 20 years in prison and will be sentenced by Judge Lanier on March 7.