After the verdict was announced, Bolden's mother, Glenda Bolden, softly said to her son in court, "I know you been set up."
Then, at increasing volume, she called out, "Don't worry, Marcus, I got you. I have you. I'm gonna take care of you... They lied! All of 'em lied."
By contrast, family members of the baby were quietly relieved and grateful when interviewed a few minutes after the verdict.
"I finally got some closure," said Crystal Bell, Houston's mother. "I've been praying for four years: 'Keep me strong, keep me immensely strong to get through.'"
Her mother, Yvette Stuckey -- who often cared for little Houston while her daughter worked -- was also pleased with the verdict. "God is good," she said. "Justice has been done. ... We've been waiting four years for this day.
"We're sending out our prayers to Marcus' family," she added. "I just want them to know that."
"I'm extremely pleased that Bolden has been brought to justice," said Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague. "A child paid with his life because of Bolden's jealous rage. We'll be seeking a significant prison sentence for his vicious taking of an innocent child's life."
Fourteenth Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks scheduled sentencing for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 26. Bolden could be sentenced to life or any term of years in prison, with eventual parole a possibility.
How do you set up someone who threw a toddler hard enough for him to die?
Bolden had recently begun dating Bell at the time of the baby's death. The injury happened the night of Jan. 30-31, 2004, in Bell's Merrill Avenue apartment, with only Bolden and Bell in the apartment at the time.
The case by Senior Assistant Prosecutor Dale J. Hilson at the five-day trial included medical testimony indicating Houston's head wound was no accident; Bell's testimony about her baby's final evening, leading up to her discovery of him lying on a bed at 2 a.m. Jan. 31 with a grossly swollen head and difficulty breathing; police testimony about Bolden's conflicting statements over the years; Bolden's written admission in March 2008 that he caused Houston's injury by throwing him down while angry at his crying, supposedly on a bed, causing the baby to bounce and strike a bedpost or the wall before falling on the floor.
Bell also testified that Bolden was angry that evening because she refused to get off the phone with the baby's father, a soldier then stationed elsewhere in the United States.
Ladies keep your children away from your new boyfriends. At least this poor woman is getting justice for her poor baby.
Also of interest:
Woman Murders Newborn
Trial Begins In Child Murder
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