A Las Vegas woman and her boyfriend both were sentenced by Judge Stefany Miley in the case of a shaken baby who lived for years with his injuries but succumbed at the age of 5.
The mother, Monique Bork, plead guilty to child abuse and murder in her case. Separately, the man, Edward Thompson, was found guilty of murder in a trial by jury.
Judge Miley gave Bork, 28 at the time, the maximum sentence of 8 to 20 years after she plead guilty to child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm in September 2012. The murder charge against Bork was dropped by prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against Thompson.
At her sentencing, as reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal, “Bork cried as she apologized and explained that she too was abused by Thompson. She asked the judge for probation so she could care for her and Thompson’s three children, one of which was born in jail as she awaited trial.”
Judge Miley sentenced Thompson to 20 years to life in prison.
“Bork testified against Thompson at his trial. As part of her deal with prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm in September 2012. Bork was sentenced to 8 to 20 years in prison following Thompson’s conviction,” according to a Las Vegas Review Journal report.
The boy, Brayden Grusman-Buckmaster, 5, died in July 2011 due to injuries he received as a result of head trauma as an infant. Five years earlier, in August 2006, Bork, 26, brought her 6-week-old son, Brayden, to the hospital with serious head trauma. His brain was swollen and bleeding, and his symptoms were consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Brayden was on life support for 6 days. His injuries resulted in him being left legally blind and suffering from cerebral palsy.
After the incident, Fox 5 News in Las Vegas reported that Brayden’s maternal grandmother took custody of the boy for more than two years before he was adopted by Tish Buckmaster and Gayle Grusman — hence Brayden’s hyphenated last name. Grumman told 8 News Now that Brayden, “had no brain left from the injury.”
At the time of his injuries, there were four adults living in the house with Brayden. They were Bork, Thompson, and Thompson’s mother and brother. Excuses and lies were told in attempts to explain the injuries to the baby, but eventually the truth came out.
Cortney Campbell, who was Bork’s friend, got in contact with investigators after seeing a news report that no one had been charged. She told them that Bork had admitted to her that her boyfriend shook the baby — this according to reports in the Las Vegas Review Journal. Thompson also allegedly beat Bork on several occasions. He was a man with a serious criminal past, having previously been charged with robbery, burglary, conspiracy to commit larceny, and possessing a firearm as an ex-felon.
Also, according to Campbell, Bork and Thompson got married shortly after Brayden was hospitalized, in a scheme they cooked up so that they theoretically wouldn’t have to testify against each other should charges be brought. and the two bragged how “now we can’t testify against each other.”
But Bork and Thompson’s relationship went south, and Bork confided to Campbell that she knew Thompson had shaken Brayden and caused the baby’s injuries. “I know he did it,” Campbell said Bork told her. “I know he did it from day one.” Also, according to Campbell, Bork and Thompson’s mother, who is now deceased, “tried to cover it up.”
Bork appealed her case to the Nevada Supreme Court, but the high court upheld her conviction and sentence as handed down by Judge Miley.