SEATTLE — Today, the stepfather of a Seattle teenager was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter after the young boy was allegedly beaten to death by his mother at the end of January.
The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Seattle mother Denaya Young in the Jan. 30 domestic violence beating death of her 14-year-old son at the beginning of February.
Yesterday, on February 13, Young pled not guilty.
According to court documents, Young, 29, beat the teen with an extension cord until his heart gave out. The medical examiner said the boy had 1,172 fresh injuries from the beating and likely died from Sudden Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) or Distributive Shock. Court documents define SIRS as “when the body sends blood and blood serum to so many different injuries around the body, attempting to heal them, that it draws enough blood out of the muscles and other vital areas that there is not enough to sustain the heart.”
While the 14-year-old endured the beating, his three siblings, a 5-month-old, a 4-year-old, and a 6-year-old, were present. The teen’s stepfather, Khailil Graham, was also present during the beating, but did nothing to stop it, according to court documents.
According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Young and Graham describe themselves as married, and Graham stated to police officers that he was raising the 14-year-old as his own. Graham is the biological father of Young’s three youngest children.
Today, February 14, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Khailil Graham with second-degree murder because of criminal mistreatment and first-degree manslaughter — both domestic violence offenses.
According to charging documents, the assault lasted for over three hours. During that time, Graham reportedly heard and observed the assault but failed to intervene.
Graham reportedly told prosecutors, “When I came up, up the stairs like I was just like, like bro, just get with the program.” When Graham said “get with the program,” prosecutors say the 14-year-old victim would have already had over a thousand injuries, and it was only minutes from then that he would become unresponsive.
Graham was arrested Friday by the Seattle Police Department and is set to be arraigned at the end of February.
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