By Jameson Cook - The Oakland Press

September 30, 2011

A 31-year-old woman tied a 2-year-old boy’s arms behind his back, stuffed a bandana in his mouth and pushed his face into a pillow for at least two minutes because he was misbehaving, an assistant prosecutor said Thursday.

Melissa Memmer’s actions put Tyler Korte in a vegetative state and resulted in his death six years later, and she should be convicted of first-degree murder, assistant Macomb prosecutor Michael Servitto argued in front of a jury in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

“He was a healthy young boy and she took that away from him, and now he’s passed away,” Servitto said. “Obviously she has some serious anger problems she couldn’t control. And when she couldn’t control them, she suffocated Tyler."

Memmer’s trial in front of Judge Peter J. Maceroni began Sept 22.

The jury deliberated for more than an hour Thursday after and will return to court today.

Memmer in 2004 was convicted of child abuse and attempted murder following a trial, and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors recharged her with murder and child abuse following Tyler’s death, arguing both premeditated and felony murder.

Tyler required around-the-clock care since the May 2003 incident in a Shelby Township home and died at 8 in December 2009.

Memmer was caring for Tyler, her boyfriend Anthony’s son, and her own son.

She told township Detective Terry Hogan in a video recorded interview shown to the jury that her son was “being upset” and Tyler “was not listening to me” and climbed a dresser. She admitted she tied his hands behind his back with a pillow case and placed him on a bed to show him the effects if he fell off the dresser and broke his arms.

Servitto said she gripped the back of his neck and smothered his face into a “doggy pillow.”

She denied putting the bandana in his mouth, but DNA testing found Tyler’s salvia and blood on it.

After the incident, she tried hiding the items, Servitto said.

Servitto contended Tyler was “an easy target” for her to take out her frustration toward a boyfriend and situation she no longer desired.

In the video, she said, “I am stressed. I love Tyler to death but he’s not my son. I don’t want the responsibility of watching him.”

Garon asked jurors to remove emotion and sympathy from their deliberations. He said Memmer “lost it” but didn’t intend to injure or kill Tyler, and that his post-injury care was “an intervening cause of his death.”

“You have to look at this from a legal perspective,” he said. “The only way you can look at the facts is take out the emotion.”

He conceded jurors may not agree with her discipline of Tyler but that “he pushed her over the edge, and she went over the edge."

Tyler in the years after the incident lived with Anthony Korte’s mother, Deborah, who Garon argued failed to provide sufficient care in her Rochester home. He noted that a formal neglect complaint was filed in Oakland County Circuit Court against her for two other children in the home, although the children were never removed. Garon said the petition was for “failure to feed, failure to cloth, failure to protect.”

But Servitto called the argument a “smear campaign” against them and commended Deborah Korte for providing the care.

“To suggest he died from anything other than the injuries he sustained … is ludicrous,” he said.

Garon said Tyler barely lived half of the low end of his minimum life expectancy of 10 to 15 years, with a maximum of 50 years, according to an expert. But Servitto countered that an expert actually said the average life expectancy was 10 to 15 years, with 50 years being virtually impossible.

Shelby Township woman on trial for murder of her boyfriend's son

By Jameson Cook - The Oakland Press

September 29, 2011

The defense for a 31-year-old former Shelby Township woman accused of murdering her boyfriend’s son wants to try and show that the grandparents could have contributed to the child’s demise.

Judge Peter J. Maceroni is expected to decide Thursday whether to allow the defense for Melissa Memmer to attempt to criticize the care provided to the victim, Tyler Korte, by his fraternal grandparents, mainly through their care of two other children.

Memmer is serving 25 years after being convicted following a trial in 2004 of attempted murder and child abuse for smothering Tyler while under her care in May 2003. Tyler, her fiancé Anthony Korte’s son, remained in a vegetative state until dying in December 2009, after which Macomb prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges.

Memmer’s trial began last week in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens.

Defense attorney Dan Garon on Wednesday asked the judge if he could delve into allegations of child abuse or neglect against the grandparents for their care of two other children while also caring for Tyler, who required a feeding tube and special attention. Details of an abuse/neglect petition that was filed could be learned by the 11-woman, 3-man jury.

Garon argued that doctors indicated that a child in Tyler’s state should survive at least 10 to 15 years, not the less than six years.

Assistant Macomb prosecutor Michael Servitto argued against allowing the evidence, saying most of it relates to their care of two other young children, one who’s mother is Memmer.

“I’m failing to see how any of this evidence of any other children is relevant to the abuse of Tyler,” Servitto told the judge.

Garon found two precedent-setting court cases that allow a parent or guardian’s treatment of one child as evidence to how another child may have been treated, although the cases involve parental rights termination, not criminal charges.

“This has created a very technical issue,” Maceroni said.

Earlier Wednesday, Oakland County Chief Medical Examiner L.J. Dragovic, who conducted the autopsy, testified that Tyler died from lack of brain development and pneumonia caused by partial asphyxiation. The manner of death was homicide, he said.

Tyler’s brain didn’t grow and probably receded since he was nearly killed at 2, Dragovic said. His brain weighed 811 grams while an average person’s brain by age 5 is fully grown at about 1,300 grams.

“My first question was why this child had a very small head, an immediate indication that the brain did not develop beyond a certain point,” he said. “Atrophy continued after that.”

Tyler also was paralyzed, he said.

The prosecution, which showed the jury Memmer’s video interview with police, contends Memmer smothered Tyler with a pillow or the bed after restraining him with a pillow case and gagging him with a bandana. Servitto said her retrieving the bandana from her bedroom closet proves premeditation.

Garon argued that Memmer was under stress caring for her child with Anthony Korte as well as Tyler, and feared her boyfriend.

“It’s clear this is a situation where she’s under stress, suffering the typical elements in raising children, and a boyfriend she was extremely afraid of,” Garon said. “The child’s behavior pushed her over the edge and she reacted."

Melissa Memmer, 31, appeared in court for charges of 1st degree falony and premeditated murder of 2 year youn baby

By Jameson Cook, Macomb Daily Staff Writer

January 28, 2011

Allegations that a former Shelby Township woman murdered her fiancé’s 2-year-old son nearly eight years ago appear headed toward a trial, although not trial date has been set.

Melissa Memmer, 31, this morning appeared in front of Judge Peter J. Maceroni in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens on charges of first-degree felony and premeditated murder in the death of Tyler Korte, who was suffocated and in a vegetative state for several years before dying in December 2009.

Memmer in 2004 was convicted of attempted murder and child abuse and sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison by then-judge Donald Miller, who exceeded sentencing guidelines, citing Memmer’s lack of remorse and severity of the incident.

The charges were increased in 2010 by Macomb prosecutor’s following Tyler’s death.

Memmer’s attorney, Louis Zaidan, said prosecutors have not offered a plea deal in the case. Prior to her first trial, she turned down a plea deal that included a recommended sentence of nine years in prison.

Zaidan gained permission from Maceroni to hire a forensic pathologist to review about 10 inches of medical records in the case, including the autopsy and discharge papers from 2003, to possibly refute the prosecution’s claim that Memmer caused Tyler’s injuries and death.

A pretrial was set for March 10.

Zaidan and assistant Macomb prosecutor Michael Servitto also told the judge they believe the prosecution must for a second time prove the child abuse charge against Memmer to gain a felony murder conviction, which requires an underlying felony. Zaidan said he plans to file a motion preventing Servitto from mentioning the prior convictions during a trial.

Police say that Memmer in May 2003 tied Tyler’s hands behind his back and suffocated him with a pillow while caring for him in her home.

Police reopen case to charge mom with murder

By Deanna Rose - SourceNewspapers.com

January 19, 2010

A Shelby Township woman serving prison time for abusing her son nearly seven years ago now faces murder charges after the boy died this past Christmas as a result of injuries he sustained from the previous abuse.

Melissa Memmer, 30, was convicted on one count of first-degree child abuse during a jury trial at Macomb County Circuit Court in March 2004 for an incident the previous year. She was sentenced to 25-50 years in prison for the original crime, and now faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole if convicted of the new charges.

According to Shelby Township Police Chief Robert Leman, the department was notified Dec. 26 that Memmer's son - about to celebrate his ninth birthday Dec. 28 - had died.

"The medical examiner ruled that it was as a result of the abuse that was inflicted by Ms. Memmer," Leman said.

Police indicated the boy was being taken care of by his paternal grandmother when he died, and that he had suffered lung damage and possibly some paralysis from the injuries he sustained from the abuse.

"He was doing fairly well, considering, for a while," Leman said. "But he was deteriorating."

After being notified that Memmer's son had died, detectives reopened the case and presented the file to the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office on Jan. 4 to charge Memmer in his death. Prosecutors then authorized a two-count warrant against Memmer for felony murder and premeditated first-degree murder.

The charges are on top of the sentence Memmer is serving for child abuse that occurred in Shelby Township almost seven years ago. Officers responded to Memmer's home in Utica Green apartments, in the southwest corner of the township, in May 2003 on reports of a child not breathing. Memmer's 2-year-old son was taken to William Beaumont Hospital, Troy in critical condition and suffered lung damage.

Leman said Memmer was eventually charged with first-degree child abuse and assault with intent to commit murder after it was determined the boy had been smothered.

If convicted on either of the new charges, Leman said the sentences would be concurrent and Memmer would receive credit for time already served.