A Peoria woman accused of murdering her 21-month old son and severely injuring her daughter will remain in the county jail until trial.
That was the decision handed down Thursday morning by Peoria County Judge Paul Bauer in the case of 24-year old Kaleeyah Sprinkle. Sprinkle faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated battery in the death of her son, Amiri Robinson, and alleged abuse of her daughter, the infant boy's twin.
The child died at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center three days after being brought unresponsive to a Peoria fire station. In a release outlining the first-degree murder indictment, Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos said doctors at OSF Saint Francis found the boy had a severe laceration to his spleen and liver, a pelvic fracture, and multiple scratches and abrasions.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said an autopsy showed the boy suffered multiple severe, non-accidental blunt force trauma injuries throughout his body.
Sprinkle appeared in court Thursday in an orange Peoria County jail jumpsuit, saying very little outside of responding to direct questions from the judge about her appointment of a public defender. At some points during the prosecution's argument for her detainment, she shook her head.
Bauer shared his finding that no condition or combination of conditions outlined by the SAFE-T Act and pretrial detention process could mitigate the risk posed by Sprinkle to the community and her daughter after hearing arguments from Peoria County prosecutors and public defender Danielle Sipiora.
During their argument, prosecutors played for the court a brief body-cam video from the Peoria Police officer who found Sprinkle’s daughter under a blanket in a white SUV with 34-year old Zaxton Johnson, while Sprinkle was with Amiri at the fire station.
In the video, the girl cries out and reaches immediately toward the officer after he opens the backseat door of the car. Prosecutors asked the judge to note apparent bruising on the girl’s face and eye, as well as visible tears and a lack of any proper seat belt or restraint.
Reaching out to a stranger, prosecutors argued, is a sign the girl was terrified.
Evidence also included nine photographs that prosecutors said were of Amiri at the hospital. Those were not shown in open court.
Prosecutors said Sprinkle had shown a disregard for the daughter’s well-being by leaving her injured and in Johnson’s care. Johnson is a registered sex offender with multiple pending domestic battery cases listed in court Thursday.
Furthermore, prosecutors argued Sprinkle had given false statements. Allegedly, Sprinkle and Johnson told police the children had been injured falling off a couch, which is contradicted by the opinions of medical professionals at OSF and the coroner’s autopsy.
Sprinkle already was on pretrial release for a traffic charge and had failed to appear for a hearing in August 2024. Prosecutors also alleged Sprinkle made a jail call, prior to the first-degree murder charge, to the children’s grandmother, in which she stated her intention to see her children even in violation of pretrial release conditions.
Sipiora, the public defender, based her defense around Johnson’s criminal history and proximity to the children. She argued the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence to presuppose Sprinkle, rather than Johnson, had injured the children.
Sipiora submitted a not guilty plea for Sprinkle and asked Bauer for conditional release, with home confinement and GPS monitoring.
However, prosecutors responded by referencing police interviews in which both Johnson and Sprinkle told investigators Sprinkle had sole “custody and control” of the twins for at least the two weeks between Easter and Amiri's death.
Prosecutors also argued Sprinkle had been negligent in leaving her daughter with a registered sex offender.
The prosecution requested a scheduling conference for Sprinkle for July 3 and a tentative jury trial date of July 14. Until then, pending an appeal of Bauer’s decision, Sprinkle will remain in the Peoria County Jail.
Johnson is charged with endangering the life and safety of a child, a misdemeanor, and failure to register as a sex offender, a felony. His next court appearance is a review hearing for the misdemeanor scheduled for Wednesday.
