Portsmouth man found guilty of beating his young son to death

A Portsmouth man was found guilty Thursday of beating his 2 ½-year-old son to death, but was acquitted of a more serious murder charge.

A jury in Portsmouth Circuit Court deliberated about 3 ½ hours before finding Rocky Mugynei II guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse. The panel rejected a second-degree murder charge sought by prosecutors.

Mugynei, 20, faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced in January. He’ll remain jailed without bond until then.

Assistant Public Defender Ryan Asalone said he was grateful the jury acquitted his client of the murder charge.

“At the very least they realized he didn’t have malice toward his son and that he didn’t murder him,” Asalone said.

Mugynei was just 18 when he was charged in February 2021 with killing Ramonzé Mugynei. The child’s mother, Talaysia Nelson, also is charged in the case and is scheduled to go to trial in November. She recently gave birth to another child. Prosecutors previously said they believed Mugynei was also the father of that child and that Nelson got pregnant while the two were free on bond, despite an order to have no contact.

A judge revoked their bonds earlier this year after prosecutors learned they’d been spending time together. Mugynei also had been seeing another of his children, despite an order to have no contact with any children under the age of 5, including his own.

Ramonzé Mugynei died shortly after his parents called 911 on the afternoon of Feb. 9, 2021, to report an unresponsive child.

When paramedics arrived at the couple’s apartment, they found Rocky Mugynei in the hallway performing CPR on his son. The boy was taken to Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Dr. Michelle Clayton, a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse cases, reported finding more than 100 abrasions and 70 bruises across the child’s 27-pound body, court records show. The boy’s injuries also included internal bleeding, a crushed testicle and lacerations to multiple internal organs.

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When first questioned by detectives, the couple said Ramonzé had been throwing up the night before and wasn’t eating. They said he was lying on a sofa and watching television when they stepped out of the room to take a phone call. When they came back, he was unresponsive.

After police confronted them with the autopsy results, Nelson said she had no idea how Ramonzé could have sustained the injuries. She said he was an…