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The parents of a 14-month-old boy who died from child abuse after being unconscious for approximately a year pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter Monday morning in federal court.
Former Kaneohe Marine Sgt. David R. Lonergan and his girlfriend, Tracy Noelani Mattos, are each free on $25,000 bail to return to Las Vegas, where they were arrested earlier this month. Their trial is scheduled for January.
A grand jury in Honolulu returned an indictment Aug. 2 charging Lonergan and Mattos with causing the Feb. 27 death of Zayden Lonergan.
The indictment says David Lonergan and Mattos killed their son by failing to get him timely medical treatment from about Jan. 21 to March 19, 2011. The indictment does not say who caused the fatal head injuries.
Military officials said the boy was taken unconscious to the Marine Corps Base Hawaii federal fire station on March 19 last year. From there the boy was transported to Castle Medical Center, where hospital officials determined he had skull fractures.
The boy was later transferred to a care facility in Ewa Beach. He was transported to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children on Feb. 23 this year and died four days later, having never regained consciousness.
The Honolulu medical examiner determined the boy died from brain injuries caused by abusive head trauma, and classified the death a homicide.
