Sean Michael Sowards
September 23, 2004 - June 13, 2007

Also in the home was Sean's older sister, Angel. Angel showed no sign at all that she had been abused in any way. Crystal Conklin and Sean's father, Michael Sowards also live in the home. In the home, blood was found in Sean's room, on the carpet, on the walls of the closet, the closet door and the sheet on his mattress. There were bloody clothes
in the laundry and clothing that smelled of vomit in the washer.

When Sean was found, he was unresponsive and laying in his own
vomit. At the age of two, he underwent brain surgery to relieve the
pressure from the swelling taking place. It wouldn't do any good and
two days later, Sean was dead.

Crystal and Michael both denied that they had abused Sean in any way and blamed his injuries on him being clumsy and even went so far
as to say that his sister, Angel, was very aggressive towards him. How
could parents abuse a child and then try to pass the blame off on to
a sibling? Simple, they are self absorbed monsters who care nothing
about their children at all. They're trying to save their own butts!

Sean's grandmother said that she had reported the abuse she had 
seen and was told that parents have a right to discipline their children and it was none of her business, even when he said that the age of four months old, Sean was being spanked his mother, for crying. She
was told that unless she seriously injured him or killed him, there would not be an investigation. If someone had paid attention to her, Sean would probably be alive today. Elizabeth Herd had some harsh, though greatly deserved words, for Crystal. Elizabeth is Sean's grandmother on his fathers side of the family. Saying that Crystal was a monster who hid Sean's injuries before she finally ended up killing him, she had strong words for Crystal:

Almost a year later, on April 24, 2008, Crystal was convicted of first
degree murder and first degree child abuse. Therese Tobin, the chief trial attorney at Prosecutor Eric Smith's office, said that Crystal had been worried about her sons trip to the hospital, however, it was for all the wrong reasons. Therese told the jury that Crystal was more worried for herself because she didn't want her dirty, little secret to get out, she also didn't want to have to talk to the police. Crystal had a lot to be concerned about since Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz said that Sean died as a result of non-accidental blunt force trauma to his little head on June 14, 2007.

Addressing the jury during her closing arguments, Therese Tobin told
of the life of Sean:

Therese used testimony from medical experts, relatives and police
officers who had all talked about the abuse give to Sean, for whatever
reason, by his mother and father. Daniel Spitz talked about injuries
in various stages of healing which had been given over a long period
of time. Those in juries included fractures, bruised, scrapes to Sean's
head, torso and extremities as well as the removal of his toenails.
The cause of death was once again identified as blunt force trauma
which resulted in the injury and bleeding all over his brain:

Several doctors said that the injuries he suffered from were not at all
consistent with a child who had fallen, or a bump or even a force that
a toddler would be capable of using on him. It was also said that the
visions problems Sean had were caused by malnutrition and Therese
said that Sean had not developed according to a growth chart of a
doctor, due to his neglect. The vision problems cause Sean to have to
feel his way around the house:

Therese told the jury that the questions before them at that time had
nothing to do with Sean's father, Michael. Michael had supposedly 
rushed his son to the hospital after coming home from work and
finding him laying in his own vomit:

Therese asked the jury to consider all of the testimony of Michael and
Crystal who had testified in her own defense. Therese Tobin said that
Crystal had made up a story for the court in which she said that she
was not responsible for Sean's death, that it was Michael who was to
blame for his injuries. In court was the first time Crystal had ever
mentioned this story. Also pointed out were the differences in how
Sean was treated compared to his sister Angel:

Michael remained charged with second degree child abuse in the death
of his son. He testified against Crystal and his family was there to 
support him in the courtroom, they were clearly shaken by the closing
arguments of Therese Tobin.

Crystal gave birth to another child, a daughter, in the Macomb County
Jail in July of 2007. At her sentencing hearing, Crystal was crying and said very little before Judge John Foster sentenced her to life in prison for the charge of felony murder. This sentence will run concurrently with a sentence of 15 years she received on the charge of first degree child abuse. Crystal, who was 28 at the time, said:

To her comments Judge John Foster replied:

Defense Attorney Ronald A. Goldstein hinted that this would be his 
last case and that there might be an appeal. Ronald said that the
evidence against Crystal was circumstantial and that no one REALLY
knows what happened in their home that day:

Michael Sowards had little to say about his own charges in this case,
though he did say something about the verdict in Crystal's case:

I wonder if he'll still feel that way after his own conviction!

Michael Sowards plead no contest to the charge of second degree abuse, in June of 2008. He was convicted and sentenced to an
extremely RIDICULOUS short term of nine months in prison with five years of probation to follow that. Michael voluntarily gave up custody 
of his other two daughters, saying he wanted them to have a better
life.

Im' sorry here, but, if he did nothing wrong, WHY did he give up the
custody of his two daughters who were placed in foster care? IF he 
felt he had to give them up, why not give them to his mother? Some-
thing doesn't seem right in that. That's just my own opinion!

Sean Michael Sowards, 2, of Warren, died suddenly Wednesday, June 13, 2007, at St. John Hospital, Detroit. He was born Sept. 23, 2004 at Crittenton Hospital, Rochester.

Sean is survived by his parents, Michael Sean Sowards and Crystal Tamara Conklin; sister, Angelique Sowards; grandparents, Danny and Elizabeth Herd and Kathy Simms; and great-grandparents, Ann VanHeusden, Oniel and Rose Herd, Robert Lee Conklin and Shirley Switzer.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Renaissance Unity Church, 11200 11 Mile Road, Warren. Burial will take place in Resurrection Cemetery, Clinton Township.

Visitation is 3-9 p.m. Wednesday at Resurrection Funeral Home, 40800 Hayes Road, Clinton Township. Additional visitation is 10-11 a.m. Thursday at the church.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Sean Michael Sowards Memorial Fund at any Flagstar Bank.

In January of 2009, Crystal was back in court trying to get a new
trial claiming that her lawyer had ignored her requests to bring in
witnesses and use battered spouse syndrome as her defense. Crystal
was claiming ineffective counsel as the reason she deserved a new
trial.

Crystal says that Ron Goldstein failed to interview witnesses who would have been able to back up her allegations that Michael Sowards had
abused her physically. She also said she had witnesses who could back her up on the allegations that Michael had abused Sean. Witnesses
could supposedly back up claims that Michael's car WAS in the drive-
way during the time that Sean had gone unconscious. She claimed that Michael has stopped home for a short time at about 4:30pm and he
could have abused Sean at that time:

Ron Goldstein said he has asked Michael in cross examination if he had used physical violence against Sean and Michael had denied it. Ron
also said:

There were also claims, by her new attorney, Lawrence Katz, that Crystal had called the police on eight different occasions for domestic violence complaints. Ron said if that were true, he would have received copies of the police reports. Crystal then said that she didn't tell the 
police about Michael's abuse toward her and her son because she was
afraid of Michael:

Elizabeth Herd was in court and later said:

Lawrence said that there were records showing that Sean suffered with
Dermatitis:

I wish I could ask Lawrence what he means by that. Sean is dead, that
is NOT a "condition" and it's NOT a condition that can be attributed to
a skin problem. Children don't go blind, they don't get tons of bruises
over their body, they don't bleed all over their rooms, they don't vomit
and they don't die from Dermatitis. Lawrence also said that Ron could
have prevented damaging testimony from Daniel Spitz, which clearly
swayed the opinion of the jury.

Ron said that he had talked to Bader Cassin, a pathologist, trying to get him to testify for Crystal. After reviewing the case, Bader decided that
he would not be able to provide positive testimony for Crystal:

The judge was to decide later, if Crystal would get a new trial date.

.

.
Share this page with your family and friends!
.

Your Name: 
.
Your E-mail Address: 
.
Family Or Friends E-mail address: 
.
This button will take viewers to the page you are viewing right now.
NOTE: ALL e-mail addresses are kept confidential.
NEVER harvested and NEVER shared with anyone
other than who YOU send this page to.
.

.

Please let me know that you were here, by signing my
guestbook. The link below will take you to my guestbook
page where you can read a message about my site and
choose to read or sign.