Man Asks Judge To Overturn Verdict Kevin Merwin Convicted In Toddler’s Death

Kevin Merwin always has proclaimed his innocence. And on Wednesday, he did so again - trying to overturn a jury verdict that declared him guilty.

“This decision was a very emotional one, not based on reason, … not based on the law,” Fred Loats, Merwin’s attorney, told 1st District Judge James Judd at Wednesday’s acquittal hearing.

After looking at autopsy photos of a dead toddler, a jury of seven women and five men convicted Merwin in April of felony injury to a child. The jurors believed Merwin had caused the severe head injuries that killed his girlfriend’s 2-1/2-year-old son.

But as Merwin tries to get that decision overturned, the dead boy’s father is trying to make sure Merwin gets the stiffest penalty possible.

Donald Buss and his family have gathered 800 signatures for a petition which they will submit to the judge, asking that Merwin be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“They’re strictly going for a defense that there is no defense for,” Buss said after Wednesday’s court hearing. “They’re trying to get a guilty killer off.”

Alex Buss was the son of Donald Buss and Michelle Buss-Merwin. The couple are divorced.

When Alex died, his mother was living with Kevin Merwin and his parents at their Athol, Idaho, home. She married Merwin, 24, after her son’s death. She still stands by him.

On July 18, 1995, Michelle Merwin went to work and Kevin Merwin stayed home alone to baby-sit Alex and his sister along with his three daughters.

After lunch, Merwin brought Alex inside for a nap, putting him down on a bed to change him. Merwin testified that when he turned his back, the boy stood up. Merwin said he turned back around in time to see the boy appear to faint and topple over backward off the bed.

Alex died the next day at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. His brain was bleeding and swelling.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Merwin’s attorney argued that doctors could not pinpoint how the boy was hurt.

Doctors said the toddler had been hit on the head with an object or that his head had been smashed into something. Another said the boy could have been shaken violently. The defense doctor said death could have been from an accidental fall.

Loats also argued that just because Merwin was the only adult home at the time, that doesn’t mean one of the other children or the family dog couldn’t have hurt Alex.

But Deputy Prosecutor Lansing Haynes pointed out that even if the doctors could not pinpoint how the child had been injured, several testified that Alex’s injuries could not have been caused by a simple fall. Haynes also pointed out that Michelle Merwin had called her boyfriend just before her son was injured. She told police she could hear her son talking and sounding fine in the background. A short time later, Merwin called 911. He was the only person who could have injured the boy during that time, Haynes said.

Judd hopes to issue a decision before Merwin’s Oct. 25 sentencing.

, DataTimes