Ivan DuntonA Hamilton County Criminal Court judge on Tuesday declined to reduce the $3 million bond for a man accused of shaking his 4-week-old daughter to death.
Ivan Dunton, 28, is in the Hamilton County Jail charged with felony murder and aggravated child abuse. He was arrested in March 2019 after police found the 6.5-pound baby lying face-up on the carpet with Dunton over her frantically saying, “She’s not breathing.”
Dunton allegedly told police he was “frustrated with his girlfriend’s behavior” and the baby girl wouldn’t stop crying. So he grabbed the baby and “shook her violently until she stopped crying,” the Times Free Press reported previously.
A medical examiner’s report noted signs of both recent and healing blunt-force injuries, suggesting the baby had been previously abused. By whom, however, is not clear.
If convicted, Dunton faces a possible sentence of life in prison, which is effectively 51 to 60 years, according to state law.
His trial, however, cannot take place until at least the middle of next year, and his mother says she’s unable to pay the $3 million bond.
“Trying to is impossible,” she said, her voice defeated. “It’s just unbelievable for me to come up with that kind of money.”
According to Tennessee law, bail “shall be set as low as the court determines is necessary to reasonably assure the appearance of the defendant as required.”
In order to determine what amount to set, lawmakers have listed a number of factors to be considered. That includes a defendant’s employment status, family and community ties, prior criminal record, nature of the offense and the risk of danger to the community.
During Dunton’s bail reduction hearing on Tuesday, it was noted that Dunton had previously pleaded guilty to one domestic assault charge in 2016. But he has no previous felony convictions or any convictions for failure to appear, and multiple people, including Dunton’s mentor, mother and cousin, said he was reliable, hard working and gave examples of his work ethic and how he and their family are well connected within the Chattanooga community.
If his bond were reduced to $50,000, Dunton’s mother said he would be able to stay with her, and she would have the ability to accommodate a GPS monitoring device and ensure that he arrived at all of his hearings on time.
“I don’t see that, based on all that testimony and those family ties, that he would be a flight risk,” public defender Eliza Williams said.
“I think $3 million is an excessive amount of a bond in this case,” she added.
“The court understands that anytime that a child death is involved, and someone is accused of committing acts that led to that death, that any in the community – particularly non-legal people – would assume, ‘Well, of course, that person would be a danger to the community,'” Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman said.
“Specifically, though, what immediate danger would Mr. Dunn pose to individuals in the community?” he asked the prosecution.
“To be blunt with the court, judge, if you can do that to a 4-week-old baby, I think you are a danger to this community,” prosecutor Andrew Coyle said.
But he added, “I don’t know that I can get in front of the court and say that he’s going to go out and rob somebody. There’s just no evidence on Mr. Dunton for that. The only limited evidence we have is a prior conviction of domestic assault, which may or may not even be relevant. And certainly the … injuries to [the baby].”
Coyle went on to notify the judge of unfounded evidence that Dunton caused a separate injury to another child.
In mentioning the alleged evidence, Coyle said, “First of all, I don’t know anything about that, so I don’t want the court to take it into account. But I don’t know that that would become relevant – the older child had a spiral fracture some months before that was somehow attributed to the defendant, but that was unfounded. And … I feel very confident that the state would not be able to use that at trial.”
Steelman then took a 30-minute recess. When he returned, he noted that several bond-setting factors weighed in Dunton’s favor, but at least two weighed against him: the nature of the offense and the apparent probability of conviction, Steelman said.
“The defendant is innocent until proven guilty, and he will have his day in court,” he said. “The court realizes there may be more to it than what the court has heard today. But … based on what I’ve heard today, it looks like there’s a lot of evidence against Mr. Dunton that would establish that he would be perhaps guilty of the very serious crime of felony murder, which carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, which means 51 calendar years day for day.
“That is something that could certainly influence someone’s willingness to appear in court, regardless of who that person is… I just am not comfortable putting him back out in anybody’s home right now and when he has the capacity – apparently has the capacity – to commit an act like this against a helpless infant.”
Contact Rosana Hughes at 423-757-6327, rhughes@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.