Man guilty in overdose death of infant

Orlando Rosado told Philadelphia police that it must have been an accident.

Zoned out after using up to eight packets of heroin, Rosado said he must have accidentally added heroin and methadone to the formula he mixed for his infant son.

Common Pleas Court Judge Barbara A. McDermott did not buy it. On Tuesday she found Rosado guilty of third-degree murder in the May 11, 2012, overdose of son Christopher, just two days short of his first birthday.

Eyes staring forward, jaw slack, Rosado, 46, heard the verdict in the same apparent state of shock in which he spent the daylong nonjury trial.

McDermott ordered presentence and mental-health reviews and set sentencing for Aug. 27.

Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Donnelly said Rosado faced 221/2 to 45 years in prison on the murder and child endangerment counts.

Defense attorney Bruce Wolf presented no witnesses, but argued that Rosado told detectives the truth.

Wolf said Rosado was guilty of involuntary manslaughter: "He admitted he was under the influence of heroin and other substances at the time he prepared this bottle."

Wolf noted that Rosado and girlfriend Crystal Miller - mother of their two children - had no prior contact with child-protective services and said the autopsy report described Christopher as healthy with no evidence of abuse.

Donnelly argued for third-degree murder, telling McDermott, "The evidence of record was that this was a fussy baby. . . . In his warped mind, it was OK to give the baby heroin and methadone to make the baby sleep."

While the judge did not specifically adopt Donnelly's theory, she told Rosado his recklessness and disregard for his son's welfare - using drugs while caring for the child - justified the third-degree murder charge.

McDermott added that Rosado's changing stories to police showed recognition of guilt. She cited one statement where he suggested that his daughter, Destiny, gave the baby drugs out of jealousy over the attention he was getting.

"I was appalled when I heard you tried to blame this on a 5-year-old," McDermott said.

Miller, 29, the children's mother, testified about being awakened at 6:30 a.m. by Rosado's cries.

"Call 911, call 911!" Rosado screamed, she testified. She said she went to the living room of their East Frankford apartment and saw that Rosado was bending over Christopher, shaking him and crying, "Wake up, wake up!"

Rosado and Miller were both heroin addicts in rehab and taking methadone.

Miller said that she has been clean for six years on methadone, but that Rosado admitted to her he relapsed.

Miller, who was at a church social event the night of May 11, said she went to bed about 11 p.m. with Rosado watching television and the baby sleeping in a nearby bassinet.

Miller said Rosado told her he fed Christopher a bottle of formula about midnight and again at 3 a.m. She said she slept soundly until awakened by Rosado's screams.

A partly filled bottle of formula on a table near Christopher's bassinet tested positive for heroin and methadone, testified Lisa Mundy, a toxicologist with the Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office. Mundy said the drugs were also found in the infant's body, blood, and urine.