Former Fort Lee firefighter sentenced to 27 years for killing infant son

Tom Nobile | NorthJersey

Show Caption Hide Caption Former Fort Lee firefighter fights back tears during sentencing Former Fort Lee firefighter fights back tears during sentencing for the death of his 10 weeks old son.

Former Fort Lee firefighter Michael Marrara will serve a 27-year prison sentence for causing the death of his infant son during a troublesome morning feeding six years ago, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday.

The sentence stems from a heartrending trial that ended in May, with a jury convicting Marrara, 37, of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and hindering apprehension.

Though he remained stoic for much of the trial, Marrara was defiant on Friday, shaking his head and wincing at comments from prosecutors who said he engaged in a “pattern of abuse” against his 10-week-old son Andrew, which resulted in cuts, bruises and broken ribs.

In a statement to Judge Margaret Foti, Marrara chided the jury for its quick, six-hour deliberation on a trial that lasted more than month and was dominated by complicated medical testimony on the nature of Andrew's death.

“The jury simply got it wrong,” Marrara said. “Now, an innocent man is in jail.”

The courtroom was filled to capacity on Friday, mainly with supporters of Marrara, including his parents, siblings and and wife Lindsey, who is expecting another child in November.

Christina Kinkade, Marrara's sister, pleaded on behalf of the family for Judge Foti to show leniency in her sentence. The trial process was agonizing for the family, who endured autopsy pictures of Andrew and grand theatrics by the prosecution to paint Marrara as a baby killer, she said.

“We disagree with the verdict and continue to maintain and support my brother’s innocence,” Kinkade said.

Marrara will be eligible for parole after 19 years, Foti ruled.

"The court's sentence affirmed the jury's verdict that this was a homicide, and that the baby died at the hands of his father," David V. Calviello, a senior assistant prosecutor, said in a hallway outside the courtroom Firday

Marrara's attorneys said an appeal is imminent.

"There are no winners in this case," John Bruno, Marrara's attorney, said.

The jury found that Marrara delivered the fatal blow to his infant son, Andrew, during feeding on the morning of March 26, 2012. The state contended that Andrew was a problem feeder, and that Marrara was a frustrated father who lost control of himself and lashed out by either throttling the baby or striking him and causing hemorrhages on the brain.

Prosecutors argued that the infant began to show signs of physical abuse weeks before his death, when his mother discovered bruises on the baby's legs and took him to the pediatrician.

An autopsy, conducted a day after the death, revealed that Andrew had a cut on his upper lip, a contusion on his forehead, and several hemorrhages on the brain and behind the optic nerve. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy for the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office, Dr. Jennifer Swartz, concluded that the baby died of blunt force trauma to the head and was the victim of a homicide and discovered that the babdy had broken ribs that were healing.

The state argued that although those rib fractures did not cause the death, they were evidence of a pattern of abuse.

The defense, however, contended that Andrew was a sickly infant who had been taken to the doctor 18 times during his brief, 74-day life. They maintained that the state didn't know what kind of deadly force Marrara used,and that the child could have died of cortical venous thrombosis, a kind of bleeding on the brain that can be caused by a virus.

To back up the autopsy, the state brought in four pathologists as expert witnesses. Among those who testified were Dr. Frederick DiCarlo, the Bergen County medical examiner at the time of the incident, and Dr. Lucy Rorke-Adams, a now-retired forensic pathologist from The Children's Hospital in Philadelphia who is considered a leading expert on child abuse injuries.

The defense countered with its own expert, Dr. Zhonghue Hua, who is the current acting Bergen County medical examiner. Hua offered that there was microscopic evidence of a virus that could have triggered cortical venous thrombosis.

The trial lasted a month, although the jury needed only six hours over two days to deliver guilty verdicts on all counts.

Correction: Michael Marrara was convicted of aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and hindering apprehension. The full list of crimes Marrara was convicted of was inccorenct in an earlier version of this story.

More from the trial

Doctor testifies: Marrara baby died of 'blunt force'; no evidence of bleeding disorder, doc says

Medical examiner testifies: Rare disease caused Fort Lee baby's death, not violence, medical examiner says

'This death was not natural': Marrara baby the victim of a homicide, medical examiner says: 'This death was not natural'

Marrara charged: Former Fort Lee man charged in death of infant son to face trial