The 28-year-old Southeast DC man suspected of fatally beating his girlfriend’s 20-month-old son was ordered held today after his attorney declined to rebut claims that the man was a danger to the community.
The suspect, Jonathan Fullard, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon shackled and wearing a jail-issued orange jumpsuit. A source close to the case said Fullard was already in custody on other charges when MPD charged him with the death of toddler Keyontae Moore.
According to charging documents in the case, Moore was in Fullard’s custody the night of March 4 and into the morning of March 5 while the child’s mother was at work. Moore was taken to Children’s Medical Center just before 6 a.m. on Monday March 5. Detectives said the boy was in grave condition and he died less than two hours after arriving at the hospital. An autopsy found several injuries including bleeding within his skull, bruising on his head and face, three broken ribs, bruising on his chest, bruising on his leg, and additional injuries consistent with sexual abuse.
The documents state that Fullard told detectives that the child had fallen off the bed onto a computer, that he had “play boxed” with the child, and that, a week earlier, while changing the boy’s diaper, his finger had slid into the child’s anus.
According to the charging documents, one of Moore’s older sisters told investigators that in the past Fullard had struck her and that he had choked her once.
Fullard was presented with two charges Tuesday: one of first-degree felony murder, and another of second-degree child cruelty.
Fullard pled “not guilty” to the charges but his attorney, Anthony Matthews, did not make any arguments against the charges.
According to court records, Fullard has been arrested in connection to domestic violence incidents eight times. Records show that he was ordered, at various times, to stay away from seven different people, including three minors.
He was arrested the day after Moore was killed because he had failed to appear for a court date in one of those cases. Sentencing in that case is scheduled for this month.
A source close to the case did not know if any of the stay-away orders were related to Moore’s family. Charging documents state that the child’s mother and Fullard were living together and that the mother said she had known Fullard for two months. Moore’s older siblings did not live with him.
Fullard is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing on both the murder and the cruelty to children charges on April 27.
Charging documents are below.
