TROY — As the man accused of beating her son to death was arraigned by a judge Monday morning, the mother of 3-year-old Mayjor Douglas cried out and collapsed in court.

Mayanna Tune, a nurse who relatives said was at work when Daquan Parker allegedly killed her son, was helped from court by courtroom's security officers who brought to a conference room to be consoled by family and prosecutors.

Judge Kathleen Robichaud presided over the arraignment of the 20-year-old Parker on second-degree murder charges, entering a not-guilty plea on his behalf before sending him back to jail. (Robichaud serves in Rensselaer but was filling in in Troy for Monday's arraignment.)

Parker, 20, said nothing in court. Court records accuse him of squeezing, shaking and dragging the child during an attack Saturday afternoon at a Corliss Park Apartment.

Tune's father Robert was also at court. He said Parker was babysitting the boy.

“She had to go to work. She left her son with him,” he said outside city court. Tune said his 27-year-old daughter is a nurse and needed to work Saturday. Parker and Tune were dating, he said.

District Attorney Mary Pat Donnelly and First Assistant District Attorney Matthew Hauf met with the family.

Tune said his daughter needed to care for her two other children, a son and a daughter, and the family was pulling together. He said they were coming to grips with the death of the child.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday at Troy City Court.

Assistant Public Defender Jessica Zwicklbauer was assigned to Parker's case. Donnelly handled the arraignment. Zwicklbauer left court without speaking to reporters.

Parker was arrested Sunday night.

Police said on Sunday that Mayjor Douglas was taken to Samaritan Hospital around 4 p.m. on Saturday after going into cardiac arrest. He was then taken to Albany Medical Center where he died.

Police said Douglas’ condition was “suspicious” when emergency crews arrived at his home in the Corliss Park Apartments. An autopsy on Sunday determined that his death was a homicide but police did not release additional details describing what might have led to Douglas’ death.

Anyone with any information regarding this case is asked to call Troy Detectives at 518-270-4426.