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Queens Man Accused of Shaking His Baby to Death Found Guilty

By Ben Fractenberg | February 1, 2013 6:42pm
 Hang Bin Li, 28, was found guilty of shaking his baby to death in 2008 after his trial in Queens Supreme Court, Feb. 1, 2013.
Hang Bin Li, 28, was found guilty of shaking his baby to death in 2008 after his trial in Queens Supreme Court, Feb. 1, 2013.
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KEW GARDENS — A Queens man accused of violently shaking his baby and slamming her head into a nightstand was found guilty of manslaughter Friday.

Hang Bin Li, 28, called 911 around midnight on Oct. 22, 2007 after his 10-week-old daughter, Annie Li, "was sweating, not moving her arms or legs, and making distressed gurgling sounds," according to a statement released by the Queen's District Attorney's Office.

On Oct. 24, he told police through an interpreter that he had "accidently bumped her head on a nightstand" before he called 911, the DA's office said.

“The defendant stands convicted of causing the death of his 10-week-old daughter by violently shaking her and slamming her head into an object," Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a statement. "It is shocking to consider that a father could inflict such brutality and suffering on one as young and innocent as his daughter.”

Annie suffered a fractured skull, broken legs and brain injury, the DA's office said.

She was declared brain dead Oct. 26 and taken off life-support two days after that.

Li turned down a plea deal in October, which would have reduced his charges to reckless endangerment and released him from Rikers Island, where he had been held for more than four years, The New York Times reported.

The defense team had argued that Annie had a genetic variant known as osteogenesis imperfecta, which made her bones more brittle and prone to trauma.

His wife, Yi Ling, was also arrested in the baby's death, but the charges against her were eventually dropped, the DA's office said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ling told The Times after her husband rejected the deal. “I’m not guilty. I believe in my husband; he didn’t do anything wrong. He’s not guilty.”

Li faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in Queens Supreme Court on March 4.