Deputy District Attorney Melissa Young. Photo by Mark Reis/Gazette

Background: Willie B. Allmon, 52, of Widefield is on trial on charges of first-degree murder and sexual assault on a child in the May 18, 2009 fatal beating of his 8-month-old grandson Isiah Wilson.

What happened: After nine days of testimony, the jury heard closing arguments this morning.

Deputy District Attorney Melissa Young told the jurors that Allmon is the only person responsible for the child’s injuries.

She disputed his explanations that he passed out and fell on the child while changing a diaper or accidently bumped the boy’s head on a kitchen counter.

“We know that the defendant’s explanations for the injuries that the child suffered don’t make sense,” Young said.

“This was not one minor act. This was significant force,” she continued. “It’s from a slam. It’s from a throw. It’s from a hit. It’s from some sort of blunt force trauma.”

Young reminded the jury that medical witnesses testified that the boy’s injuries occurred within an hour of his arrival at Memorial Hospital. That was a period in which Allmon had been left alone to care for the child.

Deputy Public Defender Todd Johnson. Photo by Mark Reis/Gazette

Deputy Public Defender Todd Johnson agreed that’s Isiah’s death was not an accident. But he argued that Allmon’s daughter Felicia, the child’s mother, was the more likely suspect.

“Isiah died from child abuse. No ifs, ands or buts about it,” Johnson said.

“Willie Allmon was just a sick man trying to help his daughter because Felicia Allmon was in an extremely difficult emotional situation,” he added.

Johnson recalled how Felicia Allmon had just broken up with Isiah’s father Jarried Wilson and had drove back to Colorado Springs from Killeen, Texas, where Wilson was based at Fort Hood.

Johnson described a constant stream of phone calls and text messages in which Felicia Allmon and Wilson were arguing about the car she had used to drive back to Colorado. Johnson also recalled how Felicia Allmon’s mother had been filing complaints against Wilson with his Army superiors.

“Felicia Allmon had lost control of her life,” Johnson told the jurors.

“The evidence points to Felicia Allmon,” he later added. “Felicia Allmon was the one who was stressed. She’s the one who’s life was being torn apart…She’s the one who had been up all night,”

“No one is saying she’s cold, evil or didn’t care,” he added. “But sometimes normal people do abnormal things when they are in stressful situations that are spinning out of control.”

What’s next: The 9-man, 3-woman jury began deliberating shortly after noon. Stay tuned to the Sidebar and gazette.com for updates and the verdict.