Maine Supreme Court: Brewer father convicted of killing his six-week-old son, denied new trial

A Brewer man convicted of killing his six-week-old son will not get a retrial.

In March 2023, a jury convicted 39-year-old Ronald Harding of manslaughter in connection with the death of his son, Jaden Harding, whom he violently shook on Memorial Day 2021. The jury reached a guilty verdict after deliberating for just over an hour.

He appealed the verdict to the Maine Supreme Court, arguing that there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. Harding also argued that the prosecutor erred in saying the state's medical witness was correct and implying that a defense expert had been “cherried” for his testimony.

In a report released on Tuesday, the judges upheld Harding's conviction.

Jaden was shaken so violently that he suffered a devastating brain injury and died at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, the Penobscot County District Attorney's Office said at the sentencing.

On appeal, Harding argued there was insufficient evidence to support the manslaughter conviction. It is the jury's job to evaluate the evidence during a trial. The judges reviewed the evidence and concluded that the jury rationally and beyond a reasonable doubt found Harding guilty of manslaughter, the opinion said.

During closing arguments, the prosecution said the defense had “hired an expert to say that this was not an inflicted trauma” and that “it was not the job of these medical professionals to appear in court and give opinions supporting one side or the other, to research the Internet and[-]Choose by information.”

Harding's defense attorney objected to the testimony at the time. He argued in his appeal that it was inadmissible evidence of the credibility of the state witnesses and at the same time implied that the defense had bribed someone to commit perjury.

After the objection, Harding's attorney moved to instruct the jury to ignore the testimony, which the judge agreed to, but the attorney then withdrew his motion. He had never filed a motion to dismiss.

On appeal, Harding's attorney argued that a mistrial should be granted based on the testimony. But there was no basis for appellate review because the jury had the opportunity to ignore the testimony and no motion for a mistrial was made during the trial, the opinion said.

On May 31, 2021, Kayla Hartley, Jaden's mother and Harding's girlfriend at the time, left the baby with Harding while she bathed her older children in another room. Jaden was awake and happy before she left the baby with his father, but he was unresponsive and not breathing when she returned.

Harding was sentenced to 15 years in prison in September, but will only serve 6.5 years. He is in the Maine State Prison and will not be released until January 9, 2029 at the earliest.

Maine Supreme Court: Brewer father convicted of killing his six-week-old son, denied new trial

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