LA GRANGE MAN INDICTED FOR CAPITAL MURDER IN DEATH OF SEVEN-MONTH-OLD CHILD

  

A La Grange man is now facing murder charges in the death of a seven-month-old child in 2016.

37-year-old Billy Joel Polasek was indicted last month by a Fayette County Grand Jury for Capital Murder of a Person under 10 Years of Age.

Polasek was first indicted in November 2016 for Injury to a Child Causing Serious Bodily Injury in the death of Logan Atkins of La Grange on July 4, 2016.  The grand jury last month re-indicted Polasek on that original charge.

Days after Atkins’ death, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office reported his mother had called 911 around noon on July 4^th, saying the child had drowned in a bathtub at a home near Oldenburg.  The mother reported the child was being taken to St. Mark’s Medical Center in La Grange by private vehicle.

The vehicle was stopped for speeding on FM 159 in La Grange by a DPS trooper, who then performed CPR on the infant and called for an ambulance.  Fayette County EMS took the child to St. Mark’s, but the child could not be revived.

The case was investigated and presented to a grand jury in 2016 by Texas Ranger Brent Barina, whose presentation included pictures from the autopsy.  According to prosecutors, the autopsy showed the child’s death was not from drowning.

If Polasek is convicted, he would face either life in prison without parole or the death penalty on the Capital Murder charge, and five to 99 years—or life—in prison on the Injury to a Child charge.