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Southern Illinois man guilty of lesser charge in boys' death

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - A judge has found a southern Illinois man guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death a toddler.

Judge Dennis Doyle handed down the verdict Tuesday in the trial of Gyasi Campbell stemming from the April 2017 death of 2-year-old Kane Friess-Wylie of Belleville.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports prosecutors sought a murder verdict because of the extent of Kane's injuries, what they called the lack of an urgent response by Campbell and his varying stories to investigators that the boy fell into or out of a bathtub or off a table.

Defense attorneys in their closing arguments Monday said Doyle should consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, maintaining the prosecution's case was based on "supposition upon supposition." They said no prosecution witnesses could say how the child was injured.

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com

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