Jury Convicts Marion Man in Brutal Domestic Assault Case

Full Release from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office (11/7/25):

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office secured guilty verdicts after a unanimous jury agreed that Babatunde Brown was guilty of a vicious domestic attack that left a woman severely injured and their children traumatized.

On January 28, 2025, the Marion Dispatch Center received a call and the caller reported hearing the mother of his child being assaulted. He described her screams and cries for help. He also heard children’s cries in the background. During the attack, the suspect told the caller he was beating the child’s mother because of her relationship with the caller.

Working with the dispatcher, the caller provided the suspect’s nickname, residence, and appearance. Marion Police officers arrived and found the victim soaked in blood and water. Blood was rushing down her face. The victim and her oldest child told officers Babatunde Brown punched her, struck her multiple times with her cell phone, and hit her with a glass jar.

She described how Brown dragged her to the bathroom and forced her to try and erase the evidence of her head injuries. But, with police closing in, Brown fled. At the scene, officers found broken glass on the floor. Blood covered the first floor. A towel and shirt were soaked in blood. Blood was found the bathtub. Sadly, the attack not only injured the victim but terrified her children, who witnessed it.

The victim needed four stitches for a defensive wound to her hand and ten staples for her head lacerations. Potentially under some sort of pressure from the assailant, with whom she was in a relationship, the victim later recanted her statement and was uncooperative with law enforcement.

There are times when recantations are credible but, in situations where family members or romantic partners are the assailant, they typically are not. Nonetheless, Marion Police investigated her new claim of a different attacker. There was never any corroborating evidence, and all available evidence pointed to Brown as the one responsible.

The jury convicted Brown of two counts of Felonious Assault, one count of Abduction, and one count of felony Domestic Violence. For the two second degree felony Felonious Assault counts, Brown faces up to eight years in prison each. The third degree felony Abduction carries up to 36 months. And the domestic violence could add up to 18 additional months.

The case was tried by Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Allison Kesler and Parker Schwartz. Grogan’s team built the case on 911 audio, officer observations, medical records, and scene evidence.

Grogan noted that domestic violence or intrafamily crimes often involve forced recantations and differing levels of cooperation due to the victim’s fear of losing the relationship with the attacker. National statistics say that false recantations are common

Because false recantations occur so often, prosecutors – including Grogan and his team – regularly receive advanced training on how to convict attackers even when their victims are forced to recant. One study by a University of Washington professor determined that victims who were dependent on their abuser for caretaking were 75 percent more likely than other victims to recant.

“This case shows that solid evidence can prevail even over false recantations and a lack of cooperation,” Grogan noted. “This verdict delivers justice for a woman who endured a nightmare assault, and we have confidence that Judge Todd Anderson will issue a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of this crime.”