Man pleads guilty in toddler’s murder

WARREN – A 25-year-old Warren man was spared a possible death sentence for the beating death of a 2-year-old boy.

Randall Marc Thomas pleaded guilty Tuesday before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder.

There were conflicting opinions from experts on whether the toddler, Freddie Miller, was raped while being beaten by Thomas. This resulted in the prosecution’s dropping the death-penalty specification.

The child died March 1 in Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron after receiving initial treatment at Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

Police were called by paramedics, who were summoned to a Fifth Street apartment and noticed the boy’s injuries.

Police said that Randall Thomas is the stepbrother of Zachery Thomas, who is the live-in boyfriend of the child’s mother, Deborah Miller.

They said Randall Thomas was left alone with the boy on occasions. An ambulance was called to the apartment while the toddler and Randall Thomas were alone at the residence.