After just one hour of deliberations, a jury delivered guilty verdicts last week against Memphis father Antonio First for Aggravated Child Abuse, Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse, Aggravated Child Neglect, and Murder in the Perpetration of Aggravated Child Neglect, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
The charges stem from the death of First’s two-year-old son, Brayton Brooks, who was found unresponsive and cold to the touch by paramedics on June 24, 2020.
The child, who, according to the district attorney’s office, had been visiting First for Father’s Day, exhibited “extensive bruising on his face, arms, legs, and abdominal area, along with ligature marks on his neck.” The child was declared dead shortly after arriving at Lebonheur Children’s Hospital.
An autopsy of the child’s body revealed that he had suffered “multiple areas of subdural and subgaleal hemorrhage in his head, a lacerated liver, and hemorrhage and perforation in his large and small intestines.”
Medical examiners ultimately concluded that the child had been struck at least 24 times across his body.
First (pictured above), who waited over two hours before calling paramedics despite his son’s “immediate struggle to breathe” as a result of being struck, claimed to law enforcement that that child had “choked on cookies.”
First later shifted his story multiple times – including blaming the child’s mother, dogs, and finally his 10-year-old son – before admitting to striking the child multiple times with a closed fist and a sandal.
The violence was purportedly in response to the child knocking over a WiFi box, the district attorney’s office notes.
The jury’s Friday verdicts followed a five-day trial, including testimony from 11 witnesses, presentation of 105 exhibits, and input from three expert witnesses.
Chief Prosecutor Eric Christensen said that while it was “difficult” to review and present the material in the case, he “had to do it for Brayton.”
“What Antonio First did to [Brayton] absolutely had to be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and we are proud to have accomplished that and achieved justice for Brayton, his mother, and his grandmother,” Christensen added.
First, who has received a life sentence for the murder, will be sentenced for the abuse and neglect charges on June 27.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
