A man accused of severely beating seven-year-old Am-Marie Martin for her pink bicycle was in court today asking Judge Gregory Miller to reduce his bail to zero and to put him in a halfway house.
Byron Syvinski's defense attorney, Jeff Robinson, told the judge that when Syvinski was put into the general population in jail he was beaten by other inmates.
Robinson told the judge that Syvinski has two black eyes and an injured arm and that it was the victim's family who injured his client. "Mr. Syvinski was beaten quite immediately and quit severely," Robinson told the judge.
Am-Marie's mother and father, who were at Friday's bail hearing, denied that they had family in jail who beat Syvinski.
When asked how they felt about him being hit, Am-Marie's mother, Andrea Dunwoody, told reporters, "A part of me was like yay! And a part of me was sad for his mom, I mean he's got parents, he does have some rights. I don't want to say, 'do unto others as you want them to do unto you,' but my daughter couldn't fight back, so someone else is doing it for her."
The judge denied Syvinski's request and kept his bail at $50,000 with a third party custodian.
Dunwoody also told reporters that Friday was Am-Marie's eighth birthday. She had a Tinkerbell party to celebrate.
