(The following is a transcription of the broadcast news story with additional details for the web)
Two men appear in court for the first time Monday on charges related to the death of a two-year-old boy. I’m your Green Bay neighborhood reporter Pari Apostolakos and I was in court here Monday when 21-year-old James Vanderleest appeared in front of a commissioner who set his bond at $2 million cash. James' father, David Vanderleest, was also in court, accused of hiding and harboring his son before they were both arrested.
Take a look inside the courtroom below:
Prosecutors say on June 22, James Vanderleest was taking care of his ex-girlfriend's two-year-old boy at a home on Alpine Drive in Green Bay when the child suffered life threatening injuries which James said came from a fall down the stairs.
"The injuries sustained by this two-year-old were not consistent with a fall down the stairs," Brown County Deputy District Attorney Wendy Lemkuil said in court Monday.
At the hearing, prosecutors said an autopsy shows the child's injuries came from the boy's caretaker, who, at the time, was James Vanderleest.
"The actions of the defendant have been abhorrent," Lemkuil said. The Deputy District Attorney told the court James told the late two-year-old's mother to lie to police about who was looking after her son, calling it intimidation of a victim.
The state accuses James and his father, David Vanderleest, of lying to police and running away to a cabin in Florence County.
"He did admit in interviews they had ditched phones, changed phones," Lemkuil said.
A SWAT team reportedly had to use a flash bomb to draw the father and son out of the cabin.
James and his father David told the commissioner in court Monday the charging information against them is not entirely accurate.
"I did not leave with my child after this horrible accident happened to our family," David said. "My child was very suicidal, I went and found him."
"I've continually paid so much money to get out of jail to be around my children," James said. "A lot of this is lies. I mean, there's even a typo on page, right here 'She further indicated that after James had had the fight with victim two,' I don't know who made that statement or who wrote that."
A family member of the late child's mother, identified in the courtroom by her initials, KT, says James is a danger to the community.
"Because of him being able to run for his life to a cabin in the woods with his dad, my nephew doesn't get to try to run on this earth again and for that you need to stay in those brick walls, James," KT said tearfully.
James also had bond set on bail jumping charges Monday at $50,000.
James will next appear in court for his bail jumping charges July 9, and David's next court date is July 17.
