By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A trial has been ordered for a Genoa Township man charged with murder in the death of his infant son more than two years ago.

26-year-old Joshua Alan Woy was charged in April with an open count of murder and a count of first-degree child abuse in the June 2019 death of two-month-old Kane Woy.

In court Wednesday, 53rd District Court Judge Shauna Murphy determined there was enough evidence to send the case to trial in circuit court.

Kane Woy was pronounced dead at the scene after Michigan State Police were called to a Genoa Township residence on the report of an unresponsive child. An autopsy determined the child had suffered a skull fracture, multiple brain hemorrhages, optic nerve damage and a fractured right arm. The cause of death was listed as homicide by blunt force trauma.

An additional autopsy was conducted by the University of Michigan Child Protection Team with testimony indicating the child also had other injuries that indicated ongoing physical abuse.

Police say Woy told them that he was rocking his son shortly after the boy’s mother had left for work when the child struck his head. He told authorities that after laying him down, the child took a deep breath and then stopped breathing. He called the boy’s mother who told him to call the police. Woy also said he had tripped about a week before the death and hit his son’s head on a door frame.

The child’s mother testified that she never witnessed Woy be impatient with the child and in her experience, he treated the boy well.

Woy, who remains jailed without bond, faces life in prison if convicted on the charges.