Dad Who Left Fatally Injured Son At Crash Site Guilty Of Murder

A New Jersey man whose toddler son was killed in an accident as he fled the scene of a shoplifting at the Tullytown Walmart in October has been convicted of third-degree murder. Prosecutors say Christopher Kuhn then stepped over his 2-year-old son's bleeding, injured body in an attempt to flee from the police.

The 28-year-old man, a Hamilton, Mercer County resident, was found guilty of all charges minutes after closing arguments concluded Thursday in Bucks County Common Pleas Court.

His son, Qadan Trievel, was not in a car seat when Kuhn blew through a red light and hit another car on Route 13. The car rolled over and the toddler suffered a fatal skull fracture after being ejected onto the roadway. After the crash, Kuhn briefly paused by his son’s motionless body, "then took off running" as police approached, prosecutors said.

Kuhn, who was also convicted of homicide by vehicle, faces a maximum sentence of 20 to 40 years for the murder alone.

The crash happened moments after Kuhn brought his son into the Walmart to steal $228 worth of sound equipment, authorities said. He fled in his Jeep as police arrived.

During the three-day trial, witnesses described in gruesome detail what they saw happen that day. One man said, at first, he thought the toddler's body in the road was a doll.

“I looked over to my left and saw something. I thought it was a doll. I looked again and it was a child on the ground," Marwin Sinno said in court.

Sinno said he saw Kuhn pacing behind his vehicle, never tending to the child or calling for help. “He paced a couple of times, then he said a couple of curse words,” Sinno said. “Then he took off running.”

Emergency responders said when they arrived, the toddler was bleeding from his head and ears.

Officers ran after Kuhn, eventually catching and arresting him, while others tended to the toddler. The boy was taken to Lower Bucks Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The child's mother has since spoken publicly about the incident, calling Kuhn "disgusting."

Deputy District Attorney Robert D. James, who prosecuted the case, said Kuhn’s actions – taking his son with him to commit a crime, covering his license plate with a sweatshirt, driving recklessly and unlicensed, running a red light, and, finally, fleeing without aiding his son – all combined to demonstrate the malice required to support a third-degree murder conviction.

“Everything that went on that day was not just a tragedy, as the defense portrayed it, but it was malicious,” James said after the verdict. “I obviously agree with the judge’s decision.”

Kuhn was also found guilty of homicide by vehicle, accidents involving death while not properly licensed, driving under the influence of controlled substances, retail theft, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person, failure to stop at a red signal, driving under suspension or revocation, reckless driving, and failure to use safety restraints on a child.

Sentencing will be June 15. Kuhn remains at the Bucks County Correctional Facility in lieu of $5 million cash bail.

Image via Bucks County DA