‘I can’t change what happened.’ Columbus father pleads in infant daughter’s death
Nijil Urian Alston could not turn back time to save his infant daughter, his family or his freedom.
“I can’t change what happened that day, but I’m sorry,” the 27-year-old said as he pleaded guilty in the death of his daughter Mariah, fatally injured July 4, 2017, just months after she was born April 12.
Alston initially was charged with first-degree child cruelty and aggravated battery, before Mariah died in the hospital July 9, 2017. After an autopsy revealed the extent of the girl’s injuries, police charged Alston with murder, in March 2018.
The accusations Mariah died from abuse led to Alston and his wife losing custody of a son, who was a year old.
As Alston pleaded guilty last week to second-degree child cruelty and a reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter, instead of murder, defense attorney Jennifer Curry told Judge Ron Mullins that Mariah’s death marked the loss of an entire family that broke apart afterward.
Looking back on that, Alston told Mullins: “‘Sorry’ won’t change anything, but I loved my kids, and if I could do anything to get them back, I would.”
Accepting a negotiated plea deal, Mullins sentenced Alston to 20 years in prison with eight to serve and the rest on probation.
The injuries
Curry said the girl’s injuries resulted from an accident. Alston’s family also claimed the injuries were accidental.
“My son loved his children,” Alston’s mother told Mullins, noting Alston was adopted, so having a family of his own was dear to him.
“He’s a loving person. He’s a loving father. It was just a terrible accident,” Alston’s mother said.
But authorities said the child’s injuries could not have been sustained in a single “accident.”
Alston was alone with the Mariah and her brother at the family’s Chalbena Avenue home that day, after the mother left for work, police said.
“He was taking care of them, and changing diapers and those sorts of things, and Mariah, the 2-month-old, fell off the couch,” Curry said in an interview after the sentencing. “He turned to catch her, and her head hit the edge of the coffee table.”
Curry said the family first took Mariah to a nearby fire station for treatment, then rushed her to Piedmont Columbus Regional.
From there she was transferred to Egleston Hospital in Atlanta, in critical condition, before her death, investigators said. Physicians found the girl had skull fractures, cracked ribs, torn ligaments, and bruising all over her body, including her right eye, genitals and buttocks, authorities said.
This story was originally published August 15, 2021 at 8:00 AM.