Jonathan Lamar Perry was arraigned on murder and child endangerment charges this afternoon as his broken-hearted mother watched from the courtroom seats.
Perry, accused of beating to death the 4-year-old son of his girlfriend early Monday, did not enter a plea and spoke only to confirm his identity for the court.
Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and purple T-shirt, the 26-year-old Perry appeared inside a cell in the courtroom with a female deputy during the brief appearance. He was appointed a public defender and ordered to return to court Aug. 5.
Afterward, his mother told The Bee in an exclusive interview that her son was a quiet, gentle man who loved basketball and must have "snapped" to have done what he is accused of.
"It doesn't make sense at all," Ernetta Hunter said. "He's not that type of person. He's quiet."
She recalled her son, now 6-foot-4-inches and 250 pounds, as "cuddly," and said one of her fondest memories was taking him to an Oakland As game when he was 12 and having him cuddle with her in her lap.
"He was giving me hugs and kisses," she recalled. "He's not a monster, but this is a monstrous act."
Hunter expressed deep sympathy for the dead child, Jahmaurae Allen, and the familes affected by his death, including the family of the boy's mother, Tiffany Lacy.
"It's horrendous," Hunter said. "My heart bleeds for the family...My prayers are with the Lacy family."
Hunter said her son had lived with her in Antioch until he moved in with Lacy and her three children two months ago. He was looking for a job, she said, hoping to get on as an X-ray technician at Kaiser, and had been on disability because of an ankle injury.
She said Lacy worked at an area home improvement store and was going to pharmacy school.
Hunter said she had met Lacy and the children only once and that she had no inkling there might be trouble brewing inside her son. She added that she knew nothing about the fact that Child Protective Services had opened a case involving the children.
Jahmaurae's death came five weeks after CPS opened a case on the child for suspected abuse. A medical provider contacted the agency about suspicious bruising, according to sources, and an emergency response worker was assigned to investigate in June. The boy and his two siblings were not removed from the home.
Early Monday, the child was found unresponsive in his mother's Foothill Farms apartment, where he was home with his 18-month-old sister and Perry. He was rushed to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, and died of massive head and internal injuries.
The dead child's siblings, a 3-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl, have been taken into protective custody.
"If I could turn back the hands of time, freeze that moment, I would," Hunter said. "I cry for the baby. I cry for Tiffany."
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