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UPDATE: Jason Paul Robin was arrested Monday night, and Katharine White was arrested Tuesday morning, according to Houston police. Their bail has yet to be set, according to court records.
ORIGINAL STORY
The parents of a prematurely born, 10-week-old girl have been charged in the baby’s death just days after she was brought home from the hospital, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced on Monday.
The father, Jason Paul Robin, 24, was charged with murder and the mother, Katharine Wyndham White, 21, with injury to a child by omission in the death of their daughter, Jazmine Robin.
Baby Jazmine died on July 15, 2018, 12 days after she was released from the hospital.
In May 2019, prosecutors received the final autopsy report that showed that she died from being struck in the head. She also had bruises on her face and scalp and 96 fractures, including 71 rib fractures and a cracked skull.
“The evidence shows that Baby Jazmine fell victim to the very people who were supposed to protect her the most in this world,” Ogg said. “After a full and thorough investigation of the facts, we have filed charges, and will seek justice for young Jazmine.”
According to prosecutors, the day before her death, Robin awoke at 2:00 a.m. to feed Jazmine, but the baby refused the bottle at first. After several minutes of feeding, Robin said he noticed her go limp, so he claimed he performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her after which she appeared normal.
Robin said Baby Jazmine then fell asleep “smooth, fast, faster than I ever seen.”
She was taken to the hospital by Robin and White that afternoon reportedly after two feeding sessions followed abnormal behavior that Robin said scared him.
A family friend that was living with Robin and White admitted to officers that neither of the two took his advice of taking Baby Jazmine to the emergency room after she choked on her bottle and flat lined less than a week before she died.
Baby Jazmine’s pediatrician also suggested they take her to the emergency room upon noticing bruising around her eyes after her July 10, 2018 check-up.
The day of her death, detectives of the Houston Police Departments Special Victims Division were called to Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital by staff who said the child had “clearly inflicted head trauma.”
Robin’s crime report shows that he committed the felony of injury to a child by striking Jazmine with a blunt object, causing her death.
White’s report shows that she also “intentionally and knowingly by omission [caused] serious bodily injury” to her child, failing to protect her.
They are being prosecuted by the Child Fatality Unit of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, each defendant can face life in prison.