The Michigan mother and father charged with homicide and torture following the dying of their morbidly overweight 7-year-old son might be evaluated for his or her competency to face trial.
Jessica and Damien O’Brien have been arrested and charged following a monthslong investigation. Their son, Casper O’Brien, weighed 255 kilos on the time of his dying, which was discovered to be brought on by dilated cardiomyopathy with contributing situations of morbid weight problems, based on a prison grievance.
The mother and father are being held on no bond. Neither appeared in court docket for a possible trigger listening to in Genesee County on Thursday, throughout which Chief Choose Mark McCabe ordered that they bear competency and prison accountability evaluations.
The possible trigger listening to was in the end postponed after the protection attorneys requested extra time to overview the invention within the case. The daddy’s legal professional, Elias Fanous, famous that there are greater than 400 pages of medical information. The following court docket date has been scheduled for Sept. 9.
Throughout Thursday’s court docket proceedings, McCabe additionally denied motions by the mother and father’ attorneys in search of an inexpensive bond. Each protection attorneys had argued that the mother and father are usually not a hazard to the group and proceed to grieve the lack of their son.
“This can be a tragic case. It should not be made extra tragic by him having to grieve the lack of his son whereas in jail,” Fanous mentioned.
Fanous additionally believed his consumer was overly charged, telling the court docket, “We’re nonetheless reviewing discovery right here, choose, however I do not see homicide, not to mention torture.”
Photographs offered by the Workplace of the Genesee County Sheriff in Flint, Mich., present Jessica and Damien O’Brien.
Workplace of Genesee County Sheriff by way of AP
The mother and father have been charged with second-degree homicide and torture, which each carry a possible life sentence, and a number of counts of kid abuse.
The grievance alleges they brought on their son, who was motionless, “merciless or excessive bodily or psychological ache and struggling” and acted in “wanton and willful disregard,” leading to his dying.
They’re additional accused of failing to take him to the physician, regardless of having well being care, and failing to offer him with correct vitamin or a secure and clear residence.
A police officer responded to the household’s residence in Flint Township the morning of Nov. 4, 2025, after Jessica O’Brien known as 911 to report that her son wasn’t respiratory, based on the affidavit in help of the prison grievance. The officer “noticed excessive hoarding and deplorable residing situations,” together with no working rest room, filth and dirty diapers of their residing house, based on the affidavit.
Casper was transported to a neighborhood hospital, the place he was pronounced useless.
“This was a tragic and horrific case involving the wanton and willful neglect by two mother and father for the care, welfare and medical wants of their son,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, whose workplace is prosecuting the case, mentioned in a press release. “Their neglect led to their baby struggling extreme mattress sores, numerous rashes and different bodily well being issues together with excessive morbid weight problems that in the end led to his early dying.”
Casper had solely been taken to a physician as soon as and was not at school, based on Leyton.
The mother and father are additionally accused of abusing their 5-year-old daughter, who can also be morbidly obese, based on the grievance. She has been positioned in foster care, based on the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Workplace.
