Man Accused of Throwing Infant Pleads Not Guilty

A Melrose man pleaded not guilty to charges he during his arraignment Monday morning.

Witnesses said Carlos Edwards, 33, allegedly threw the child “like a football,” then walked away from the child and it's screaming mother as onlookers dialed 911 in disbelief. 

Judge Lee Johnson cited this apparent “lack of concern and interest” for the infant's well-being in his decision during a dangerousness hearing last July. 

“He said, 'Here's your baby, and I hope you both die,'” the boy's grandmother, Charlene Nickerson, previously told reporters.

The family was not seen in attendance for the hearing at Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn.

Edwards's attorney, Cambridge-based Cheryl McGillivray, said her client was trying to return the baby to his mother, Crystle Sears, of Malden, who then accidentally dropped the baby onto the sidewalk.  

Despite sustaining a traumatic head injury with multiple fractures, the child, Carmelo Sears, made what doctors called a “,” leaving Massachusetts General Hospital after only a few days of treatment.

His status was closely observed by members of a Facebook prayer page, which has since swelled to over 3,700 members.