05/16/2026
Split Verdict in the Yard Case:
On Wednesday, a jury returned a verdict in the homicide trial of defendant Michael Yard. Yard was charged with Criminal Homicide, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and Aggravated Assault in connection with the 2021 death of his 3½-month-old son, Armani Yard.
The evidence established that Armani died while in the care of and alone with the defendant. Following autopsy, forensic pathologists concluded the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head, and the Coroner ruled the manner of death a homicide.
The jury acquitted Yard of Criminal Homicide, Murder of the First and Third Degree, but found him guilty of Aggravated Assault, a Felony of the First Degree. He remains incarcerated and will be sentenced in August. The Commonwealth intends to seek the maximum sentence permitted by law — 10 to 20 years’ incarceration.
It is noteworthy that the guilty verdict for Aggravated Assault required the jury to unanimously conclude that the defendant acted recklessly under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life in causing serious bodily injury to the baby. The trial court instructed the jury with the following:
____________________________________________________________________
Aggravated Assault—Causing Serious Bodily Injury PA-JICRIM 15.2702B, Pa. SSJI (Crim), §15.2702B (2024).
The defendant has been charged with aggravated assault. To find the defendant guilty of this offense, you must find that each of the following elements has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt:
First, that the defendant caused serious bodily injury to Armani Yard. Serious bodily injury is bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or that causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ; and
Second, that the defendant acted intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.
A person acts intentionally with respect to serious bodily injury when it is his or her conscious object or purpose to cause such injury.
A person acts knowingly with respect to serious bodily injury when he or she is aware that it is practically certain that his or her conduct will cause such a result.
A person acts recklessly with respect to serious bodily injury when he or she consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that serious bodily injury will result from his or her conduct. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that, considering the nature and intent of the defendant’s conduct and the circumstances known to him or her, its disregard involves a gross deviation from the standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the defendant’s situation. It is shown by the kind of reckless conduct from which a life-threatening injury is almost certain to occur.
Third, that at the time of the incident Armani Yard was less than 13 years old and the defendant was 18 years of age or older.
____________________________________________________________________
Last year, we appealed a pretrial court ruling that barred the introduction of evidence of prior multiple rib fractures suffered by the child a couple weeks before the killing. The Commonwealth maintained that this evidence was critical to the case as demonstrating prior trauma, ruling out accident for the killing, helping to show method, and the circumstances surrounding the child’s death. Unexplained prior rib fractures are highly concerning as a sign of child abuse.
The appellate court denied the appeal, stating that the trial court acted in its discretion and merely required the Commonwealth to establish that the defendant “may have caused” the earlier rib fractures before the evidence could be admitted at trial.
During the trial we believed the threshold requirement was proven when the evidence demonstrated that the defendant was the child’s primary caretaker during the relevant timeframe in which the fractures occurred and therefore “he may have caused the rib fractures” and that the jury was entitled to know about them. However, the trial court again denied admission of the evidence. As a result, the jury was never informed of the existence of the rib fractures.
Cases involving the death of infants are among the most difficult prosecutions undertaken in the criminal justice system. The evidence is often highly technical and medical in nature, and the circumstances frequently unfold secretly behind closed doors with no witnesses. The photo accompanying this post is of the victim Armani Yard taken 5 weeks before he was killed.
