Murder trial ordered in death of toddler rubbed with Drano

A Logan man who babysat neighborhood children will stand trial on murder charges for rubbing caustic drain cleaner over a 20-month-old boy because he was "fussing in the bathtub."

Aaron Pace, 34, was held on murder and child endangerment charges Tuesday after a preliminary hearing before Municipal Court Judge James M. DeLeon.

Defense attorney Fred R. Goodman argued that Pace should be tried only for third-degree murder, not first-degree - a malicious planned killing. Horrific autopsy photos of Suliaman Orrell Kirkland displayed at the hearing, he said, were inflammatory.

"There was no specific intent to kill this baby," Goodman said. "I'd like everybody to take a deep breath and let the rule of law prevail."

Assistant District Attorney Christine Wechsler noted that Pace took care not to burn himself and that the child had a "slow and painful death."

The judge agreed, saying that because Pace lied about what happened, the child was not treated for chemical burns and suffered for five days.

Afterward, the child's grandmother Renee Kirkland Hinton told reporters she was satisfied that Pace would be tried for first-degree murder.

"I don't want the death penalty," she said. "I want him to spend life in prison thinking about what he did."

Hinton, who called Pace "Pete," said she had known him since he was a child, and that he regularly babysat children in the neighborhood. He called Suliaman his "godson" and the boy's mother, Quintesha Kirkland, 27, his "sister."

Pace had previous brushes with police, including a 1996 arrest for attempted rape. Charges were withdrawn. The court file, however, notes he was convicted of sexual assault as a juvenile.

Police Officer Judith Kinniry testified that she went to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children on Feb. 2 on a child assault report. In the trauma unit, she saw staff treating Suliaman, screaming with burns to his head and torso.

Pace and Quintesha Kirkland were nearby. Kinniry said Pace told her he was giving Suliaman a bath when the child started crying and he noticed the boy was burned.

"He said he felt the water with his hand," Kinniry said. "He said he should have felt it with an elbow."

Five days later, Suliaman was dead.

On Feb. 7, Homicide Detective Jack Cummings confronted Pace with the implausibility of his version of events. The child had no burns on his legs or buttocks and could not have been scalded in a tub of hot water, Cummings testified.

Ultimately, Pace confessed, telling Cummings he lost his temper because Suliaman was "fussing and crying."

Pace described putting Drano crystals on a washcloth and rubbing the child until the boy's skin began sloughing off.

Cummings said Pace described wrapping the boy and walking with him: "I was patting him and telling him I didn't mean to hurt him."