BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio — Charges still stand for Bradley Young, the man charged with murder in the beating death of 2-year-old Kinsley Kinner, despite his attorneys' latest attempts to have the charges dismissed.
Young was in Butler County Common Pleas Court Tuesday for a hearing on a motion to dismiss charges against him. Young’s attorneys -- Frank Schiavone III and Frank Schiavone IV -- argued that recorded attorney/client jailhouse calls violated their clients' constitutional rights.
Young is charged with felony endangering children and involuntary manslaughter after police said he beat the toddler to death.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser and Butler County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said there was no wrongdoing regarding the calls placed by Young to Frank Schiavone IV in December.
Calls are routinely recorded from the Butler County Jail, and that fact is well documented by postings at the phone and announcements from most phones, Dwyer said.
Detectives did not listen to the calls in question when they learned it was an attorney/client call, he said.
But the defense claimed detectives began acting on information from the conversations and further acted to interfere with the representation of Young.
Butler County Jail Warden Capt. Dennis Adams testified that it was his understanding that since December 2015 all calls at the jail were recorded and included a verbal warning.
Later, he said, he learned not all the calls had the warning.
Butler County Sgt. Rob Whitlock was the second witness to be called to the stand. He testified that 99 percent of his investigation was completed before Young was indicted.
Whitlock testified that Young’s jailhouse calls were being listened to because Young had received death threats and was on suicide watch. He told a fellow detective “turn that off” when he heard a call and realized Young was speaking with an attorney.
Whitlock testified he did not know calls from the jail sometimes rang through without the warning they were being recorded until Young’s motion to dismiss charges was filed.
Law enforcement officials in Butler County said Young beat Kinsley Kinner so badly last year that she went in and out of consciousness, stopped breathing and eventually died Dec. 3.
Rebekah Kinner, 23, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, permitting child abuse and endangering children, counts that stem from not stopping the abuse and not seeking medical treatment for her daughter.
READ MORE: Rebekah Kinner shares her account of days before toddler's death
Kinner was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 11 years in prison for the involuntary manslaughter charge. The other two felonies were considered allied offenses and she did not received additional prison time for those charges.
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