Wichita man charged with murder, child abuse in 4-year-old boy’s death
Prosecutors on Friday charged a 34-year-old Wichita man with one count of first-degree felony murder and two counts of child abuse in the Monday death of a 4-year-old boy.
Court records identify the child as Tiuri Blunt-Porrata.
Daniel P. Martin was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail after the child became unresponsive Monday afternoon at a residence in the 2600 block of South Topeka, near Pawnee and Broadway. Wichita police officers responded to a medical call at the address around 3:21 p.m. The child was taken to a Wichita hospital in critical condition and died there at 4:07 p.m. Monday, police have said.
Wichita police spokesman Officer Rick Pena described Martin as “an acquaintance of the (child’s) mother” following his Monday arrest.
A charging complaint filed by the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office accuses Martin of killing Tiuri on Monday “while in the commission of, attempt to commit, or flight from an inherently dangerous felony.” The specific felony crime listed is abuse of a child.
Martin is also charged in the complaint with two counts of child abuse for “unlawfully and knowingly” causing “great bodily harm, abusive head trauma, permanent disability or disfigurement” to Tiuri on Monday and for torturing, cruelly beating, cruelly striking or cruelly kicking the child between July 1 and Monday.
Martin made a first appearance in court on Friday, court records show. His next court date is Dec. 22. He is being held in jail in lieu of $1 million bond, according to an online log of inmates.
