COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A request for a new trial from a Coldwater man who was ordered to spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a 7-month old boy in 2014 has been denied by Branch County Circuit Court Judge Bill O’Grady.
43-year-old Steven Shaw claims he is innocent of the crime and that he was not properly represented by counsel during his trial.
Shaw was sentenced to up to 50 years for first degree child abuse and was given the mandatory life without parole sentence for the death of 7-month old Carson Burm.
Shaw was found guilty last October on all counts in Branch County Circuit Court following a four day trial.
Shaw was living with the infants mother in a Coldwater apartment and was left to care for him while the baby’s mom went to work on May 29, 2014. The baby stopped breathing that afternoon and he was pronounced dead the next day after being airlifted to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. An autopsy showed the victim’s death was the result of blunt force head trauma.
