Stepdad guilty of stabbing driver

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - A jury said that a stepfather is guilty of assaulting the driver of the vehicle that hit and killed his 2-year-old stepson.

The jury decided that Dierre Coteat is guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder on Wednesday.

The charge was the lesser of two that Coteat faced in the Kent County Circuit Court. He was also charged with assault with intent to murder.

Coteat stabbed John Phillips, who drove the pickup truck that hit and killed 2-year old Javonni Conley, in July 2011. Coteat fled the scene in the 200 block of Spencer but was arrested a short time later. Phillips was hospitalized for chest wounds, but survived.

Investigators said Phillips was not at fault. Speed, they said, was not a factor, nor was alcohol. The driver was not on his cell phone.