A grand jury in Orange County, New York, indicted Gionni Sellers with second-degree murder just two days before Christmas for allegedly causing the death of a three-year-old boy.
The indictment was announced by Town of Wallkill Police Chief Robert Hertman and County District Attorney David Hoovler at a Dec. 27 press conference.
Sellers, 23, was arraigned later that day before County Judge Craig Brown, who set a bail of $750,000 in cash or $5 million in bonds.
The bail was based on his flight risk, which was enhanced by the fact that he failed to appear in court before and that he has friends in New York City and family members in North Carolina, according to the judge at the arraignment hearing.
In the days leading up to the tragic death, Sellers was entrusted by his girlfriend with taking care of her young son Xavier Johnson while she was away working at Dunkin Donuts.
The three of them lived at an apartment inside Deerfield Commons, a relatively new affordable housing complex with about 250 units in the Town of Wallkill.
However, Sellers seemed to have difficulty living up to the task, with records showing he searched on his cellphone for advice on dealing with a toddler and explanations for a young man wanting to hurt a child, according to a district attorney at the arraignment hearing.
Soon his cellphone searches progressed to about getting hit in the head, head trauma for a three-year-old, and baby breathing heavily, according to the same hearing.
On June 2, a neighbor called 911, resulting in responses by Wallkill police, who found Johnson unresponsive on a mat inside the apartment.
Johnson died the same day at Garnet Health Medical Center.
An autopsy found significant blunt force injuries in his head and torso, including bleeding in the brain, fractured ribs, and eight lacerations in his liver.
After six months of investigation by Wallkill police and state police, Sellers was arrested on Dec. 16 and indicted by a grand jury on Dec. 23. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted of second-degree murder.
Aside from the murder charge, he was also indicted for manslaughter in the first degree.
Though Sellers has no prior convictions, he was charged in February with domestic violence-related crimes in the city of Middletown.
He failed to appear in court for those charges, and a bench warrant was issued. However, the case was later dismissed, according to the arraignment hearing.
Sellers also has a pending case in nearby Rockland County.
