INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A Vero Beach man is awaiting sentencing after jurors found him guilty last week of beating and choking a 2-year-old girl to death. The girl was found with fractured ribs, neck bruises and swelling to the brain in 2020 at her home at the Vero Green Apartments, reports show.
“(Deshawn) Clark is facing a mandatory life sentence,” said Assistant State Attorney Brian Workman, who prosecuted the case. Attorney Michelle Rhodeback was the defense attorney for Clark.
The criminal trial for 26-year-old Clark began last week in Circuit Court Judge Robert Meadow’s courtroom. Prosecutors had 12 witnesses, including relatives of the baby girl, Indian River County sheriff’s detectives, fire rescue officials, crime lab technicians along with medical examiner’s representatives, testify in the courtroom.
Last Thursday, the jury of 14 found Clark guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, court records show. Clark did not testify during the trial.
The case stems back to August 2020 when Indian River County Fire Rescue officials responded to reports of a toddler who drowned in a bathtub at the Vero Green Apartments, located just north of the West Vero Corridor. The girl was taken to Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead, officials said.
Clark was the live-in boyfriend of the girl’s mother, who was at work when the incident happened.
Clark initially told first responders he found the girl unconscious in the bathtub, which was halfway filled with water. However, first responders said the girl was dry and wearing a diaper when they arrived, reports show.
Clark’s story began to crumble even more when the child’s autopsy results were completed.
“The injuries on and around the victim’s neck were consistent with her being intentionally choked,” Indian River County sheriff’s officials previously said in a statement. “The death was classified as a homicide as a result of multiple injuries, trauma to the torso, and asphyxiation.”
The girl had cuts to the left side of her head, bruising on her chest, marks on her back legs, and bruising on her left hip, under her left eye and on her neck, officials said. Deputies said the girl had hemorrhaging on her hyoid bone – located in the neck – along with blood in her abdomen, a cut to her liver, fractured ribs close to her spine and brain swelling.
Sheriff’s officials said the autopsy showed the injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma. After the autopsy, Clark admitted to lying about what happened, but denied knowing about the girl’s injuries, officials said.
Clark was arrested the day after the girl’s death. Clark has been held at the county jail without bond since his arrest.
Clark’s sentencing is set for 10 a.m. July 11 in Meadows’ courtroom, records show.
Photos by Joshua Kodis
