Man accused of child abuse enters plea in toddler son’s death

By Cara McCoy

Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 | 1:39 p.m.

A Las Vegas man with a history of child abuse entered an Alford plea today in connection with the 2007 death of his 2-year-old son.

Mario Hill, 32, tearfully admitted today that there was likely enough evidence for a conviction, but did not admit guilt to one count of child abuse with substantial bodily harm in the death of his son, Nithaniel Hill.

Hill is looking at a sentence of two to 20 years behind bars.

In 2005, Hill was convicted of felony child abuse for shaking Nithaniel twice. After the incident, Nithaniel had a shunt installed in his brain to drain fluids.

On Oct. 22, 2007, Hill brought Nithaniel to Sunrise Hospital to check the shunt and then took the boy home. The next day, Nithaniel died in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.

Prosecutors said Nithaniel’s death was the result of suffering another head injury and that the combination of the new injury and the existing damage to his brain from being shaken as a 2-month-old caused the death.

A California brain specialist and pathologist, Dr. Bennet Omalu, had examined Nithaniel's brain and said he found damage from both the shaking Nithaniel had received as a baby and evidence of a recent blow to the head that wasn’t accidental in nature. That blow could have contributed to the boy’s death, the doctor told investigators.

Hill’s lawyers said they had their own expert who would have disputed Omalu’s findings.

The case was negotiated before it went to trial.

Kristine Kuzemka, who represented Hill today in front of District Court Judge Kevin Williams, stressed that her client hadn’t admitted guilt in his son’s death -- he pleaded pursuant to the Alford plea to the lesser charge to avoid the uncertainty of a trial.

“Our biggest concern was the injury from 2005 in that he didn’t want to run the risk of a conviction for what the state alleged was a new injury from 2007,” Kuzemka said.

Hill was initially charged with murder in Nithaniel’s death. He was arrested Sept. 15, 2009; at the time of his arrest, he was on probation on a child abuse charge.

Records show the Hill family had been in contact with Child Protective Services over the years. Last January, Child Protective Services began proceedings to remove another child from the home to terminate Hill’s parental rights, according to a report from the time of Hill’s arrest.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe said today she was pleased with how the case had been resolved.

She said it could have been a complicated case to argue in front of a jury because of Nithaniel’s injuries from 2005. His injuries weren’t a typical case, she said.

“Metro put a lot of work into it, but it would have been a really tough case,” she said, adding she planned to argue for significant prison time at Hill’s sentencing.

Hill has been incarcerated at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 1 in front of Judge Douglas Herndon.