Man indicted on murder charge in baby's death

A Port Jefferson man has been indicted on murder and manslaughter charges for shaking his girlfriend's baby to death, court records showed Friday.

A Suffolk grand jury handed up an indictment against Howard Brooks, 24, who was arrested March 30, a day after 11-week-old Madeline Mendolia was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury.

Brooks, who is not the baby's father, hurt the baby March 29 at the Middle Island home of Mendolia's mother, Sareena Mendolia, police said. The infant died April 1.

Brooks' attorney, Eric Naiburg of Central Islip, said Friday he was surprised by the murder indictment.

"I'm interested to see how they could consider, even under the alleged facts, that he can be found guilty of murder," Naiburg said.

Suffolk prosecutors were not immediately available for comment.

The indictment charges Brooks with second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and reckless assault of a child.

Brooks is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges Wednesday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

He pleaded not guilty to his initial charges of assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He is being held on $1-million bail.

"I'm comfortable with the fact that he did not intentionally kill this child," said Naiburg, adding that indicting Brooks for another theory of murder, accusing him of depraved indifference to human life, would be "a little ludicrous."

Police and an ambulance crew responding on March 29 to a 911 call from Sareena Mendolia found Madeline in serious distress, police said. She received CPR and was rushed to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson and then to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she died three days later.

Brooks' previous attorney, Jason Bassett of Central Islip, said Brooks accidentally hurt Madeline while trying to revive her when she appeared to be lethargic.

Sareena Mendolia could not be reached for comment Friday.