Father who 'accidentally put heroin and methadone in his infant son's bottle, unintentionally killing him' convicted



Orlando Rosado, 46, was convicted today for the 2012 death of his infant son Christopher in a one-day trial



Rosado was charged with third-degree murder for putting heroin and methadone in his son's feeding bottle

The baby was found unresponsive that morning and was pronounced dead at the hospital, two days before his first birthday

A 46-year-old Philadelphia man charged with putting heroin and methadone in his infant son’s bottle, killing him, was convicted Tuesday of third-degree murder.

Orlando Rosado was charged with third-degree murder and drug delivery causing death in the case. Proscutors claimed he put the drugs in his son's bottle to quieten the baby, unintentionally killing him, but the judge said there was no evidence he intentionally administered the drugs.

Orlando Rosado, 46, did not testify at the one-day trial, but the defense said Rosado accidentally put the drugs in the baby’s 3am bottle during a heroin relapse. His son, Christopher, died two days shy of his first birthday in May 2012.



Happier times: Orlando Rosado is seen here with his son, Christopher, who died after drinking a bottle that his father had added methadone and heroin to

Common Pleas Judge Barbara McDermott said she based her verdict in the nonjury trial partly on Rosado’s conduct afterward, when he gave changing statements to police, including an attempt to blame the death on his five-year-old daughter.



'I was appalled when I heard that, ' McDermott said.



Yet McDermott says she knows Rosado regrets his actions. He told police his son was 'his heart and soul. '



The case opened a window into the world of two addicts, mother and father, who sought treatment after their daughter was born addicted to heroin in 2006, and were seemingly doing well. It’s at least the second case in Philadelphia in which a baby died after drinking a heroin-laced bottle.



Medical records show Christopher was healthy, if small for his age, and there was no evidence of prior abuse or neglect. Photographs show the house was neatly kept, and the boy’s mother said Rosado handled the overnight feedings, and boiled water to make the formula. And a friend came every day at 7am to take him to a methadone clinic for treatment.

Loved: Rosado (left, with his son) told police baby Christopher (right) was his 'heart and soul'



Struggle: Both Christopher's (right) parents Orlando Rosado (left) and Crystal Miller (center) struggle with heroin addiction

Rosado told police that he fed his son Christopher at 3am on Friday May 11, 2012 when he awoke fussy, then found the baby unresponsive in a vomit-covered bassinet at 7am.

The mother, Crystal Miller, 29, who was also in a daily methadone treatment program, said she thought Rosado had been clean since the 2006 birth of their daughter.

But a friend who took Rosado to the methadone clinic every day said he knew he had relapsed. The friend nonetheless said Rosado was good with the baby, and was 'hysterical' on the morning that his son died.



'He was pretty good with the baby,' said the friend, Giovanni Nieves.

Nieves knew that Rosado was still using, buying both heroin and methadone on the street. He was also being treated for bipolar disorder.

Deadly: Methadone is a synthetic opiate used in the treatment of heroin addiction When Nieves arrived the morning of May 11, 2012, Rosado ran outside carrying his limp, discolored boy. Rosado initially told police that he had no idea what happened, and admitted only in a third interview, after toxicology tests came back, that he had done eight bags of heroin after the boy’s mother went to bed. 'Can you believe he tried to blame it on [their daughter]?' Miller, crying, asked a companion after Tuesday’s verdict. Defense lawyer Bruce Wolf argued that Rosado may have been reckless, but did not act with malice, as is required for the third-degree verdict. But McDermott questioned the decision to take heroin while caring for the infant. The older child, now six, lives with Rosado’s mother and sister, who were in the courtroom to support him but declined to comment afterward.

Fractured family: Crystal Miller (right) is no longer in a relationship with the father of her daughter, Orlando Rosado, after he killed their son (in Miller's arms) with heroin and methadone in 2012

McDermott acquitted Rosado of drug delivery causing death, finding there was no evidence he administered the drugs intentionally, despite the prosecutor’s theory.

'In his warped mind, he thought this would be OK... to make the baby sleep,' Assistant District Attorney Lorraine Donnelly argued.



A forensic chemist testified that the baby would have ingested the drugs within the past eight hours, based on the drugs found in his blood, liver and urine. Tests also found evidence of heroin and methadone in the remaining liquid in the baby bottle, which was found on a coffee table.

Tragic: Crystal Miller's son Christopher died before his first birthday; her elder daughter lives with Rosado's mother and sister

Miller testified that Rosado handled nighttime feedings while she slept, and that she did not mix the formula or prepare the bottles in advance. She said she broke off her relationship with Rosado after Christopher's death, in part because she could not get a straight answer from him about what happened that morning.

But she smiled as she spoke of how he insisted on boiling tap water for Christopher's bottles if they were out of bottled water. And she described her son as 'always fussy'.

Defense lawyer Bruce Wolf, perhaps pointing to his defense, asked Miller if people don't get groggy or confused after taking heroin. She agreed that can happen.