An Edmonton father has been convicted of manslaughter in connection with the death of his five-week-old baby boy.
George Russell Hulleman, 31, was originally charged with second-degree murder nearly a year after Leviathan Puchalski died. Hulleman was found guilty of manslaughter at the Edmonton Court of King’s Bench on Thursday.
Judge Shannon Davis said that medical testimony established by experts was unable to determine the precise acts that caused Leviathan’s injuries, which he noted were severe.
Court heard that on the evening of Feb. 5, 2023, Leviathan’s mother went to bed at about 10 p.m., leaving the baby and Hulleman alone in the living room of their Edmonton home.
She testified that Hulleman had been playing video games. Several hours later, she woke to find him on the phone with 911 while holding Leviathan.
Before that night, the mother said her baby had been growing and developing normally and she was not aware of any incidents that could have caused serious injuries.
During the 911 call, Hulleman said Leviathan was unresponsive, not breathing and cold.
The mother testified she could see her baby was limp, turning blue and had his eyes closed.
Emergency responders arrived at the home and found Hulleman in the kitchen performing chest compressions. They took over resuscitation efforts and noted the baby appeared ashen.
Leviathan was taken to Stollery Children’s Hospital. It was found he had brain swelling and no brain activity, spinal cord injuries and fractures to his limbs.
The boy died on Feb. 9, 2023.
Intent was key issue
Davis said the central issue in the case was whether Hulleman had the necessary intent to be convicted of murder.
A forensic psychology expert testified that Hulleman performed poorly on a cognitive test and has limitations in his cognitive abilities.
The expert said those limitations could affect his ability to foresee consequences, particularly if he was emotionally overwhelmed.
However, Davis said the psychological evidence did not establish Hulleman’s actual state of mind at the time of the incident.
Davis accepted that Hulleman has cognitive limitations, but said the evidence did not establish that he lacked the objective foresight required for murder.
The psychologist also could not determine whether Hulleman had been emotionally overwhelmed when Leviathan was injured.
The Crown argued that Hulleman’s conduct after the incident supported an inference that he intended to murder the baby and that the psychological evidence was inconsistent with other evidence presented at trial. That included Hulleman’s statements to police that Leviathan had fallen from a couch while in his care.
Medical evidence contradicted that explanation. One expert testified that the injuries were equivalent to those that could be sustained in a fall from a height of five storeys.
The court also heard about a phone call Hulleman made to Leviathan’s mother while he was in custody. She repeatedly asked him what had happened.
“I can’t do that yet, I’m not allowed to, otherwise you won’t see me for a long time,” he said.
Court heard Hulleman was sober on the night Leviathan was injured.
A doctor also testified that they had rarely seen injuries as severe as those suffered by the infant.
‘Catastrophic’ injuries
Davis noted that experts testified the injuries could have resulted from shaking, throwing or slamming the baby.
If Leviathan had been shaken, Davis noted the experts said the evidence suggested it would have required more than one shake, although the experts could not definitively determine the number of times — that would depend on the amount of force used.
Davis said the Crown did not need to prove the exact mechanism of injury or how long the incident lasted.
The judge said Hulleman’s attempts to downplay the force used against Leviathan spoke to his intention.
Davis described the infant’s injuries as “catastrophic.”
He found that the evidence did not establish Hulleman lacked foresight and that the Crown had proven he intended to cause serious bodily harm.
However, Davis said he was not satisfied the Crown had proven Hulleman anticipated the likelihood that Leviathan would die.
As a result, the judge found the Crown had proven the element required for manslaughter.
Hulleman would have foreseen that applying that level of force to the infant would cause bodily harm, Davis said, but the evidence did not establish the objective foreseeability of death required for a murder conviction.
Davis ordered that an Indigenous background report, formerly known as a Gladue report, be prepared before sentencing.
Sentencing will take place at a later date.