A Bowling Green man who is in prison for endangering children has been indicted for murder after the victim died.
Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson announced that a grand jury on Wednesday issued an indictment against Gilbert John Michael Hughes for the murder of a 2-year-old.
Hughes, 40, is serving an eight-year prison sentence for endangering children. It is alleged that after that act, the child died of her injuries on Feb. 15, 2017.
According to court documents, the child was his daughter.
On March 6, 2015, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about an unresponsive 3-month-old baby in Bowling Green. She was transferred by air ambulance to Toledo Children’s Hospital, where a CT scan showed subdural hematomas on both sides of her brain, which were consistent with abusive head trauma (also known as shaken baby syndrome).
Hughes was indicted in April 2015 for one count of endangering children, a second-degree felony, and was found guilty at trial of that charge.
He was sentenced in October 2016 to eight years in prison by former Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry.
Hughes appealed the sentence on several grounds, including that the victim was in the courtroom, thereby prejudicing his right to a fair trial.
The 6th District Court of Appeals affirmed the sentence.
He remains incarcerated at the North Central Correctional Institute in Marion.
According to Dobson, Ohio law permits an individual tried and convicted of assault charges to be charged with a homicide offense if the victim of the assault later dies of the injuries sustained.
Murder is an unspecified felony, subjecting a defendant to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
