WOODLAND — After six weeks, dozens of witnesses and hundreds of items of evidence, a Yolo County jury will begin deliberating next week the fate of Darnell Dorsey, the Davis man accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s toddler son.
Dorsey, 24, is charged with felony assault on a child resulting in death in connection with the Jan. 25, 2014, death of 20-month-old Cameron Morrison.
Yolo County prosecutors say Cameron, who was not Dorsey’s biological son, was the victim of ongoing abuse before arriving at Sutter Davis Hospital on the night of Jan. 22, 2014, with traumatic injuries including brain swelling and bleeding, multiple rib fractures and other internal injuries.
Cameron died three days later after being declared brain-dead at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
Defense attorneys contend their client is innocent. They say Cameron suffered from a severe, undiagnosed case of pneumonia that led to respiratory distress and cardiac arrest, and that it resulted in medical complications that doctors mistook for inflicted trauma.
The defense rested its case Thursday afternoon. Attorneys are scheduled to deliver their closing arguments on Monday, after which the case will be in the jury’s hands.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene