MADISON, Wis. (WKOW) -- Trial begins in Dane County on Tuesday for a man accused of killing a 20-month-old girl in April of 2022.
Marshawn Giles, 26, pleaded not guilty to the 18 charges against him, including eight felony charges ranging from first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a firearm, reckless endangering of safety, multiple counts of battery and child sexual assault.
On April 25, 2022, police responded to an apartment on Madison's west side around 2:45 a.m. where a woman was screaming for help. She said a man killed her baby.
When officers arrived at the home on Schroeder Road, the 20-month-old girl was found seriously hurt, and nude with a pillow over her face. She was alive. Emergency personnel took her to the hospital, and that's where she died.
Her cause of death was ruled a homicide, and listed blunt force injuries to the head, torso and extremities. The autopsy found blunt force trauma injuries to the head, including skull fractures and evidence of sexual assault.
Giles, who was 23 at the time, was taken into custody that same day in connection to child abuse charges relating to a different investigation, but involving the then six and seven-year-old children in the same family.
The alleged abuse involving the children and the mother, who had a domestic relationship with Giles, was recorded by the Dane County Department of Human Services in 2018 and 2019. Giles reportedly lived with the mother, the toddler, and the two children in the same household. The toddler's father did not have regular visitation. Leading up to the death of the 20-month-old toddler, the mother's mother reported the abuse to police on April 18 after one of the children was allegedly slapped across the face.
Days later, the grandmother contacted the police to report a domestic disturbance between her daughter and Giles. She also contacted Child Protective Services in an attempt to gain custody of the children due to the dangerous situation they were facing. A CPS social worker reportedly told police that the children would not be removed from the home despite a physical abuse investigation because "it did not justify enough danger."
The mother told police that she and Giles went to Milwaukee earlier in the day and that he began "tweaking" on the way home, reportedly threatening to kill her. Giles allegedly continued "tweaking" on the way home, throwing the mother's phone out of the window, and sexually and physically assaulting the mother and the toddler when they got home. She said he threw the toddler from the bedroom into the bathroom, "throwing her forcefully" into the open toilet, and throwing the mother into the bathroom before continuing to punch her.
On April 25, the toddler was the only child present at the Schroeder residence. The criminal complaint alleges that the mother picked her up from the grandmother's home on the 23, but left the two other children.
27 News will be following the trial, which is expected to last for two weeks.
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