Man pleads guilty for his role in young son’s death

Staff report

WARREN

Michael J. Stewart, 29, of Windham has pleaded guilty to reduced misdemeanor charges of negligent homicide and endangering children for his role in the death of his 4-year-old son Aug. 4, 2010.

Stewart was at work at the time that the boy shot himself in the chest with a gun that was left unsecured in the drawer of his parents’ bedroom in the East River Gardens neighborhood of Newton Falls. He will be sentenced in about five weeks and could face a year in prison.

The boy was alone in the bedroom while his mother, Amanda R. Stewart, 35, now of Garrettsville, was in the living room with the couple’s three other children, said Diane Barber, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.

The charges were reduced from felonies because Amanda Stewart, who had agreed to testify against her husband, admitted that she had lied about certain things, Barber said.

Originally, Amanda Stewart told police she had placed the handgun the boy fired on top of a shelf in the bedroom closet. Later, she admitted that the gun was in a dresser drawer.

She originally said she was outside of the house chasing the family dog when the boy was shot, but she later admitted she was in the living room, Barber said.

Amanda Stewart will be sentenced later for her role in the child’s death. She pleaded guilty earlier to felony involuntary manslaughter and could get up to five years in prison.

Amanda Stewart took a lie-detector test as part of her plea agreement and corrected several parts of her story before taking the test, Barber said. Amanda Stewart then passed the lie-detector test, Barber said.