LAS VEGAS » A former Hawaii resident sobbed Tuesday during his first appearance in a Las Vegas courtroom on a murder charge for allegedly injuring his young son fatally.
Jonathan Quisano, 26, stood in shackles next to his public defense attorney, Jeff Banks, while Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan scheduled a July 22 preliminary hearing and ordered Quisano held without bail at the Clark County jail.
Quisano spoke during the brief hearing only to say he could not afford to hire an attorney. He was not asked to enter a plea.
Outside court, Banks said Quisano intends to plead not guilty. Banks said Quisano moved from Hawaii late last year.
Quisano was arrested Friday, the same day 3-year-old Khayden Quisano was pronounced dead at University Medical Center in Las Vegas of head and internal injuries that doctors and investigators said were too severe to have been caused by a fall, according to a police report.
The boy had been hospitalized Thursday after his mother, Christina Rodrigues, called police to say the child had fallen in a northwest Las Vegas home while being cared for by Quisano.
The father told police the child fell while playing on the back of a sofa.
Quisano, a 2004 Waipahu High School graduate, moved to Las Vegas in October, according to his Facebook page. He and Rodrigues, formerly of Makakilo, have been married for almost seven years.
Quisano was convicted earlier this month of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant in September in Hawaii, according to court records. He was ordered to pay a $300 fine for the petty misdemeanor.
