Judge won’t dismiss murder charge against dad in son’s death

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - A judge has refused to dismiss murder charges filed against a New Jersey father accused of killing his 3-year-old son.

State Superior Court Judge John Kelley on Monday rejected a motion filed by Richard Fuschino Jr, the attorney for David Creato Jr.

Fuschino claimed that a medical examiner acted improperly while determining the cause of death for Brendan Creato and later misled a grand jury. But Camden County prosecutors have called those arguments “absurd.”

Prosecutors have said the boy suffered “homicidal violence.” They say the 22-year-old Haddon Township man killed his son because the boy was impeding his relationship with a teenage girlfriend who allegedly resented Creato’s dealings with the child’s mother.

Creato remains jailed on $750,000 bail. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and child endangerment.