Downstate man convicted in beating death of toddler

LINCOLN, Ill. — A Logan County jury has found a 40-year-old Lincoln man guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son.

The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reports that the jury deliberated about 10 hours before convicting Ty Cline on Thursday.

Prosecutors say Cline hit Lucas Alberts while baby-sitting the boy in August 2009 for then-girlfriend, Jody Alberts.

They say Jody Alberts took her son to a hospital the next morning after finding him struggling to breath and unresponsive. He died the next day.

Cline testified the boy stumbled and hit his head on a rat cage in the living room. But prosecutors say the boy’s injuries were not consistent with a fall, including a head injury that reached the brainstem.

Cline is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 1.