Chesterfield County man sentenced to life in prison for death of baby

by: Tonya Brown

Friday afternoon, a jury found Mitchell Charles Rivers guilty of homicide by child abuse in the death of his three-month-old adopted son, Mitchell Alexander Rivers.

This week, he was on trial for his son's death.

The child died at Rivers' home in Chesterfield County in August of 2005.

Officials with the Fourth Circuit Solicitors Office tells NewsChannel 15 Rivers called 911 saying his son was unresponsive. The infant was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Department and the State Law Enforcement Division got involved as they routinely do in child fatality cases.

Prosecutors say deputies found inconsistencies in Rivers' account of what happened.

They say he gave four different stories of how the child died, including that he accidentally rolled over his son in the bed while sleeping.

After an investigation, they charged him with homicide by child abuse after an autopsy found multiple bruises on the baby's head and fractures to his rib.

Prosecutors say Rivers testified in his own defense saying his son's death was an accident.

The jury began deliberating about noon Friday and came back with a guilty verdict three hours later.

Judge Paul Burch sentenced Rivers to life in prison.