BERRIEN COUNTY (WKZO-AM) — A man has pleaded guilty in a Berrien County courtroom to first-degree murder following the death of an 8-month-old.
The 31-year-old Coloma man was warned by the judge that his plea meant he would get mandatory life without parole. To make sure he qualified for the stiffest sentence the state allows, the judge sought to establish premeditated murder. He asked Beshires if he thought about killing the child of his girlfriend before he actually did it and he admitted to everything.
Beshires said was angry because the baby would not stop crying, and he wanted to kill the infant, so he slammed him on the floor of the bathroom at the Hot Spot restaurant in Coloma in Berrien County.
Sentencing is set for Jan. 30.
The infant’s mother, Autumn Atchley, will also be sentenced on that date for being an accessory after the fact.
They claim she wasn’t initially honest with police about Beshire’s involvement in the baby’s death. She claims that he threatened her and she was frightened of him.
