2nd Mistrial for Dad Who Killed Deformed Son

A circuit judge today declared a second mistrial in the case of a man charged with killing his deformed son moments after his birth by throwing the infant to the delivery room floor.

Ten of 12 jurors had arrived at a guilty finding, but the remaining two voted for a guilty but mentally insane verdict, prosecutors said.

Cook County Associate Judge Will Gierach declared the mistrial after jurors in the case of Daniel McKay, a veterinarian, failed to reach a verdict in three days of deliberations. The trial was the second one for McKay on the same charge.

McKay showed little reaction after hearing the judge’s decision. Defense attorneys filed a motion for acquittal and Gierach said he will consider it Nov. 10.

Prosecutors will review the case and decide whether to bring a third case against McKay, said Lisa Howard, spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

McKay, 41, of the Chicago suburb of Beecher, admitted hurling the child to the floor of Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey.

But defense lawyers contended that McKay became temporarily insane after first seeing the condition of the infant, believing he had “conceived a creature.”

The infant was born with a cleft palate and lip, webbed hands and misplaced ears. An autopsy revealed that he had heart and lung malformations and no testicles.