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• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A man was charged Thursday for the Christmas Day death of his girlfriend's 18-month-old son in Sioux Falls.
• Manegabe Chebea Ally, 24, was charged with alternate counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. A jury could convict him on all or none of the counts but he'd only face one sentence if convicted, said Minnehaha County State's Attorney Aaron McGowan.
• Ally was taken into custody Thursday and is being held at the county jail. He is expected to make an initial court appearance Friday, police said.
• Ally was caring for the boy while his girlfriend was at work and told police the child fell off a bed onto a carpeted floor, according to court documents. But the local coroner said such a fall could not have caused the child's injuries, the Argus Leader reported (http://argusne.ws/YmfZoi ).
• Ally called 911 Monday afternoon to report that the boy was not breathing. The child was resuscitated at the apartment, but he died Tuesday at a Sioux Falls hospital.
• Doctors observed numerous bruises on the child upon his arrival at the hospital, with swelling to the boy's head, patterned bruising inside the wrists and on both arms and elbows, according to the court documents.
• Minnehaha County's coroner, Dr. Kenneth Snell, performed an autopsy Wednesday and determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. He said the fall described by Ally could not have caused the child's fatal injuries.
• Ally told police he had been playing with the boy, swinging him around by his wrists and ankles. He was not the child's father, court documents say.
• The court paperwork also notes that all the people who saw the boy prior to the 911 call said he appeared happy and unharmed.
• The second-degree murder charge carries an automatic sentence of life in prison if convicted, while the manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. A conviction of first-degree murder carries either a death sentence or life in prison without parole.
• Lt. Rod Axsom at the Minnehaha County Jail said Ally could not be interviewed Thursday and didn't know if Ally has an attorney. A message left for prosecutors late Thursday wasn't immediately returned.
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