The family held hands as the two suspects were bought out of the holding area and into the courtroom.
“The support has been unbelievable,” Senft said moments before the hearing began. He wept with his mother, Heidi, and grandmother, Karla Edwards, after the hearing.
Overcome with emotion, the family declined to comment further.
Outside the Middletown City Building, more than 50 supporters, many carrying “Justice for Kinsley” posters, lined up early in the fog and frost. While the posters had to be left outside the courtroom per court rules, many of the supporters wore red ribbons in quiet support of the toddler.
Young and Kinner were transported for the hearing from Butler County Jail to Middletown just before 8 a.m. and were surrounded by police and deputies.
Before court began, Judge Wall addressed the packed gallery, warning that anyone who made an outburst would be held in contempt of court.
Wall acknowledged the death threats that have been made on social media in the emotionally charged case.
“We have a system of justice in this county … we are going to see that it is done fairly and properly in this court and in common pleas court,” Wall said.
A preliminary hearing for Young and Kinner has been set for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 10, but the case will likely be taken directly to a Butler County grand jury for consideration.
UPDATE @ 9:18 a.m. (Dec. 4)
Bradley Young and Rebecca Kinner were under heavy guard as they came in to Middetown Municipal Court Friday morning for their arraignment in the death of Kinner’s daughter, 2-year-old Kinsley.
Young was charged with murder in the beating death of Kinsley. Kinner was charged with permitting child abuse, a first degree felony. Both received no bond from Judge Mark Wall during the arraignment in Middletown Municipal Court Friday morning.
Young, 26, wearing a bullet proof vest and heavily guarded, said nothing during the short arraignment hearing. But well- known Butler County attorneys, Frank Schiavone III and son, Frank Schiavone IV, have been hired to represent him. The junior Schiavone entered a not guilty plea on Young’s behalf.
Kinner told the judge she had no job and no money. Wall told her to complete an indigency form and an attorney would be appointed to represent her.
ORIGINAL REPORT, DEC. 3:
A 2-year-old Madison Twp. girl, who Butler County Sheriff’s investigators said was beaten by her mother’s boyfriend, was pronounced dead Thursday evening at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, a family member and sheriff’s Maj. Mike Craft said.
Kinsley was on life support and was expected to undergo further tests about 6:30 p.m. to determine if she was brain dead, according to a post by her father Scott Senft on his Facebook page. Attempts by the Journal-News to reach Senft by phone Thursday were unsuccessful.
Courtney Riley, a cousin, said the child was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m.
Maj. Craft confirmed that, noting that the child will be kept on life support until Friday morning.
The toddler’s mother, Rebecca Kinner, 23, and her boyfriend, Bradley Young, 26, are being arraigned Friday morning in Middletown Municipal Court on charges related to the assault. Young is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, accusing him of shaking and punching Kinsley in the head multiple times on Tuesday. Kinner faces a permitting child abuse charge, a third-degree felony accusing her of making no attempts to come to the child’s defense during the assault, investigators said.
Charges against Young could be upgraded if the child dies from her injuries, sheriff’s officials said.
“I am beside myself,” said Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. “I have met some truly, sick people in my career; people who have done terrible things, and this I can’t even begin to grasp. I am going to work closely with the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office to seek the highest punishment possible for the people who did this.”
Shannon Kettler, a spokeswoman for the Liberty campus of Children’s Hospital, said over the course of last year, there were 37,215 emergency room visits, and 270 of those were child abuse cases.
So far this year, Butler County Children Services has seen seven cases where a child had to be taken to the hospital due to abuse, according to Bill Morrison, the agency’s director. In 2012, the county saw a five-year high of 30 child abuse cases that required a trip to the hospital. Morrison said the parents are almost always involved and often the mom’s boyfriend is the culprit.
“I wouldn’t say it is a prevalent problem, but one is too many,” he said. “You hate to see it any time it occurs. I don’t have any reason to believe…Butler County is any different statistically from any other counties around the state.”
Earlier this year, Phillip J. Cunningham, 27, of Hamilton, was charged with murder after he allegedly dropped his 2-month-old daughter and shook her, according to Hamilton police. The baby later died from her injuries, which included intracranial bleeding, skull fractures and “serious brain injuries,” police said.
Cunningham is scheduled to appear in Butler County Common Pleas Court later this month for a hearing in that case.
When Butler County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home on Radabaugh Road early Wednesday morning, they found Kinsley fighting for her life. She had bruising under her chin toward her throat and several bruises all over her head, according to court documents.
Kinsley was intially taken to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown before being transported to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. A CAT scan showed bleeding on her brain and hospital staff indicated there was no brain activity, the court documents stated.
In the 911 call — obtained by the Journal-News — Kinner told county dispatchers: “My daughter, she is coming in and out of consciousness, and she is not breathing right now.”
On the recording, dispatchers are heard talking a man through how to administer CPR to the little girl who was lying on the kitchen table. Kinner, who was crying, said, “She went to bed and she woke up screaming at the top of her lungs twice, and now we can’t get her to wake up.”
Detectives were called to the hospital immediately and were told by doctors the severe injuries the little girl sustained were consistent with child abuse and were life-threatening.
“She met criteria for neon brain dead in the State of Ohio, because of her age they will do another test tonight at 6:30 p.m.,” Senft said Thursday in a Facebook post. “I’m sorry for the let down everyone, this sucks and hurts, but I don’t see my baby pulling (through).”
Senft posted several photos of Kinsley on his Facebook page and a video of the little girl trying the to crawl out of a play pen with the words, “you strong nuff to do this baby girl. Pull thru.”
Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office Tip Line by texting “cops” to 274637 or call 513-785-1300.
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