A jury convicted a 24-year old Shelby Township woman of first-degree child abuse and assault with intent to murder in Macomb County Circuit Court Feb. 23. 


Last May, Melissa Memmer bound the arms of her finance's 2-year-old son, Tyler Korte, and pressed his face against a pillow until he passed out from oxygen deprivation. 


Memmer called 911 after the incident, and emergency dispatch advised her on CPR steps to revive the boy. However, by the time EMS arrived, Korte was still unresponsive. The child was hospitalized for several months in critical condition, and is now in the custody of his paternal grandparents, still in a coma. 


During Memmer's trial before Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Donald Miller, her attorney, Arthur Sheikh, argued that although her actions were indisputably wrong, there were mitigating circumstances to what happened that afternoon on May 7. 


"We're in no way trying to minimize what happened to Tyler, it's a tragedy," Sheikh said. "But Melissa's actions didn't occur in a vacuum." 


Sheikh said Memmer's live-in fiance, Anthony Korte, 29, was very controlling and kept Memmer isolated in the couple's Shelby Oak's apartment while she took care of Tyler and the 10-month-old son Memmer and Korte had together. 


Sheikh also said both Memmer and Korte had been in court the day before the incident, on May 6, on criminal charges pertaining to Korte, and Memmer had anticipated him to be sentenced to jail time. She was upset when he wasn't, said Sheikh. 


"She built up some false hope that he would be put in jail for being behind in child support," said Sheikh. "She had left him before, but he would follow her, and she hoped that if he got jail time, she could get a running start. But when that didn't happen, she more or less went into a fit of some sort." 


Sheikh said Memmer's charge of first-degree child abuse was amended last October to include assault with intent to murder. Sheikh said he does not believe Memmer intended to kill Tyler. 


"What happens with assault with intent to murder, someone usually interrupts what's going on, and they're caught," said Sheikh. "Melissa's the one who called 911 and gave him CPR. She never had any intention to kill him."


Irit Walters, an assistant prosecutor with the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office, said Memmer's circumstances are not relevant to the damage she did to Tyler. 


"The victim in this case was an innocent 2-year-old boy," said Walters. "Whatever her life circumstances were, it would never excuse or justify what she did to that little boy... I was very happy with the verdict. I think justice was served in that regard. But the tragedy is that doesn't change Tyler's situation. She'll walk out of prison one day, and he'll never get a chance to live a normal life."


Memmer and Korte's son is also in custody of his paternal grandparents with Tyler. 


Memmer will be sentenced March 24. Assault with intent to murder is a felony charge that carries a minimum sentence of nine to 15 years, and a maximum of life in jail.