Malmberg found guilty on all 3 counts

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A jury rejected Jeffrey Malmberg's claim that the death of 2-year-old Jozlynn Martinez's death was an accident, finding him guilty Monday afternoon of second-degree murder.

"We got justice for Jozlynn today," said the girl's grandmother, Cheryl Paulsen. "We can only hope that the judge will see and sentence him to the max."

Malmberg faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, including the possibility of parole. He's set to be sentenced in November.

His lawyer, Jeffrey Kirchhoff, told 24 Hour News 8 he hadn't yet discussed with his client but said he expects Malmberg to appeal.

To find Malmberg guilty of second-degree murder, jurors had to conclude that, at minimum, he "knowingly created a very high risk of great bodily harm."

The 40-year-old also was found guilty of the two other charges leveled against him: larceny, for taking money from the girl's mother, and tampering with evidence, for disposing of the girl's body.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Chris Becker said based upon his conversations with jury following the verdict, he didn't think Malmberg did any favors by taking the stand in his own defense earlier Monday.

When he did, Malmberg told the jury he "didn't think [he] did anything major to hurt her, I wasn't trying to hurt her." He has repeatedly admitted to putting his knee on the girl's chest during a tantrum.

In a testy exchange with Becker, Malmberg refused to show jurors exactly how he put his knee on Jozlynn's chest. He said he already told them what he did.

The prosecutor then took issue with the defendant's earlier statement that he didn't remember with certainty whether he was restraining the girl's arms at the time.

"Mr. Malmberg, you killed your daughter," the prosecutor said.

"I know this," Malmberg responded.

"You haven't gone through your head how many times over and over?" Becker said.

"You know how many times a day I think about this?" Malmberg said.

He later said his arms were next to her on the ground.

Becker pointed to that issue in his closing argument, suggesting to the jury it showed there was something about what happened that Malmberg wasn't telling. The prosecutor also pounced on the 40-year-old defendant's admission that he wasn't in the room when Jozlynn's tantrum happened.

"He wasn't in the room, there was no reason for him to be in the room," Becker said in his closing argument. "Shut the door, let her cry it out until she falls asleep. That's all he needs to do here ... He's outside the room, he goes into the room but for some reason he feels the need to go down and put his knee on her chest ... That's an intentional act ... He intentionally places his knee on her chest."

The prosecutor said Malmberg's actions following the girl's death -- putting her body in the trash, buying candy at a store and heading to Lansing to play pool -- showed it was no accident.

Relying on last week's testimony from medical examiner Dr. David Start, Becker said Malmberg must have either put pressure on the girl's chest for longer than the 30 to 45 seconds he admitted to -- or he must have used more force or pressure.

Kirchhoff acknowledged what his client did after the death was "beyond stupid." But he said his client's final story is the true one -- one he told to a jail snitch when he didn't know it was being recorded.

"There is nothing in that story to indicate he beat on Jozlynn -- that he did anything to her other than restrain her in a fashion that obviously was way too hard," Kirchhoff told the jury. "He tried to restrain her in manner that did not turn out to be proper, that was too hard for a 2-year-old. No doubt about it. But he didn't do it knowing that he was going to cause danger or death or cause harm to her.

"If he had intent to do great bodily harm, there would be testimony [that] he picked on her, he beat her."

He implored jurors to follow the judge's instructions and not to allow their feelings about the death of a 2-year-old to stop them from looking at the facts of the case.

In his one last chance to address jurors -- the rebuttal -- the prosecutor told them "the village idiot knows if you put your knee on the chest of a 20-pound 2-year-old that you could cause death or great bodily harm. One of the two things. It doesn't take a brain surgeon. It doesn't take a degree from the University of Virginia. It doesn't take any of that."

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The Jozlynn Martinez timeline