For six years, a young Macomb County boy lived with health conditions he suffered, which prosecutors blame on abuse at the hands of his father.

Now, the father, Anthony Tyese Robinson, is to stand trial on a felony murder charge after his son died in 2022, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

The boy was 6 months old when prosecutors said he was abused in July 2016 at a residence in the northern part of the county. Robinson pleaded guilty to child abuse five months later and was sentenced to prison.

His son died in 2022, with the murder charge listing April 16 of that year as the date of the offense, according to 41A District Court in Sterling Heights. The Prosecutor’s Office then charged Robinson, 30, of Detroit, with first-degree felony murder in June 2023.

The child was blind and struggled to breathe

The charges took some time because of the investigation, autopsy and medical reports, Dawn Fraylick, communications director for the Prosecutor’s Office, said in an email Tuesday to the Free Press. She said the boy was living in Sterling Heights when he died, which is why the more recent charge was filed there.

Robinson was bound over to Macomb County Circuit Court after a preliminary exam Monday and is to be arraigned Feb. 5 in Circuit Court, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.

“Acts of violence have no place in our community, and we will diligently pursue all legal avenues to hold the defendant accountable for his actions. Our thoughts are with the boy’s family during this difficult time,” County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a release Monday.

Randy Rodnick, Robinson’s court-appointed attorney, said he expected the Prosecutor’s Office to file the murder charge. He said authorities said the 6-year-old boy was blind and had difficulty breathing and swallowing, infections and pneumonia as well as other health issues alleged to be linked with the prior blunt head trauma.

“It’s very unfortunate for everyone concerned,” Rodnick said.

Authorities suspect shaken baby syndrome

In 2016, Macomb County Sheriff’s authorities said Robinson, then 22, abused his then-6-month-old son in Washington Township.

Deputies were sent to an apartment to assist Washington Township fire officials with a sick child. The child already had been rushed to Henry Ford Macomb Hospital when deputies arrived, according to a prior Free Press report.

It stated the boy’s mother called first responders after she returned from work and found the child injured, though authorities didn’t detail the child’s exact injuries at that time.

Detectives learned the mother left for work at about 9 a.m. that day and left the child in the care of his biological father.

After the child was assessed at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, doctors told deputies they believed the boy had injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. The boy then was taken to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit.

More: ‘A part of my heart has been removed’ relative of slain Macomb mom, daughter tell killers

Robinson was arrested after investigators interviewed him and the boy’s mother and after consulting with doctors.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse in December 2016. He was sentenced in January 2017 to 10 years, nine months, to 30 years in prison and was to have no contact with the boy, even through a third party, per Circuit Court records.

Robinson currently is housed at a state prison in Ionia, per Michigan Department of Corrections online records.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Man to face trial in death of son, who died years after alleged abuse