The man charged with throwing his 3-year-old son off the Francis Scott Key bridge has pleaded not criminally responsible to the crime — Maryland’s version of the insanity defense.
Court-appointed doctors will evaluate Stephen Nelson, 38 — who is charged with the first-degree murder of Turner Jordan Nelson in February — and must report their findings to a city judge by Dec. 22.
Nelson’s public defender, Robert Linthicum, declined to comment on the case.
Police say Stephen Nelson threw his son off the bridge amid a custody dispute with the boy’s mother, Natisha Johnson. Nelson told police that “demons” made him throw his son off the bridge, according to charging documents. Officers later recovered the boy’s body in the Baltimore harbor.
Johnson said her son — who was nicknamed “Doodlebug” — was the “light of my life.”
“He’s going to be missed,” she said. “I’ve got plenty of pictures and videos. That all makes it easier.”
Johnson said her son could eat like a grown man, could spell words beyond his years and brought joy to the adults around him.
Turner taught himself to spell words like xylophone, elephant and bicycle; helped teachers clean up at A Bright Future Learning Center; and sat with his mom watching the television shows “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy,” Johnson added.
Nelson’s trial is scheduled for Feb. 11.
