PHOTO PROVIDED A pied-billed grebe swims along with its young in this photo by Jinchao Lyu which won an Audubon Photography Award in 2025.

Brett Aaron Dailey, 21, 513 S. Broad St., Jersey Shore and Pebbles Lee Byers, 19, will each stand trial on a charge of felony endangering the welfare of a child, District Judge Denise Dieter ruled, following a preliminary hearing for Dailey Monday afternoon.

Byers waived her preliminary hearing in the matter, and was made eligible for pretrial services.

Dailey and Byers took the infant to Jersey Shore Geisinger hospital on March 21 after the child’s left arm was “acting weird” and flopping back down when they would hold it up, Dailey allegedly told city police detective Justin Segura during an interview.

An x-ray taken at the time of admittance showed several fractures, including to the child’s left mid-bone, left upper knee, lower left leg and knee, right upper knee and right lower knee.

Additionally, a bruise to the cheek and a deep cut to the chin of the child was observed by the detective, he testified.

Dr. Paul J. Bellino, a child abuse expert for Geisinger, who was consulted on the case said the injuries were consistent with child abuse, Segura testified.

A tear on the underside of the child’s tongue was also discovered by Bellino, who said it was consistent with someone trying to shove a bottle into the mouth of an infant, Segura testified.

A Lycoming County visitation caseworker assigned to Dailey and Byers and called to testify by Deputy Assistant District Attorney Phoebe Yates, stated that during her first visit with the family on March 26, both parents seemed uncertain of how to remove the infant from the car seat. At one point, the child’s arm was pinned back within the seat.

They also stated that the bottle nipple and pacifier size was different from what they were using at home.

To get the child to latch onto the nipple, the couple had been using a method of pulling the nipple out and forcing it back into his mouth, the caseworker said.

During a follow-up evaluation on April 7, additional fractures were discovered in the child’s shoulder and ankle, Segura said.

All fractures showed a similar pattern of healing.

“I may have been a little too rough” when getting the infant in and out of his car seat and onsie, Dailey allegedly told Segura during questioning.

During cross examination by Deputy Public Defender Matthew Welickovitch, Segura acknowledged that, at the time of the incident, three other adults, as well as an adult German Shepherd were living in the residence along with the infant and his parents.

It had been suggested multiple times that the canine might’ve been responsible for injuries, however, due to the pulling nature of the injuries and the lack of any bite marks, Bellino ruled that out as a possible cause, Segura testified.

During three separate police interviews, Dailey made no admissions of guilt or knowing that his handling of the infant could result in injury, Segura said.

Further, there were no indications of abuse during previous check ups prior to the March 21 hospital visit.

“I have fundamental problems with the charge itself,” Welickovitch told Dieter in arguing that, bare minimum, the grading of the endangerment was wrong.

“There’s been no testimony or report introduced that would indicate these injuries happened over a period of time as opposed to one incident,” the defense attorney said.

A course of conduct over a period of time is a required element to meet the burden of a felony endangerment child, as opposed to a misdemeanor grading.

“No one indicated that Mr. Dailey knew what he was doing would result in injury to his child,” Welickovitch argued.

The testimony was that Dailey loved his son and did not want him hurt, he stressed.

“If there were any additional admissions of guilt, the state surely would’ve presented that,” Welickovitch.

Even though Dailey and Byers were the primary caretakers of the infant, this care did not “exist in a bubble,” Welickovitch argued, again stressing the fact that other adults and an adult dog also resided in the home.

Yates, however argued that the existence of seven different wounds, many of them involving excessive force, could be considered to have occurred over a course of conduct, rather than one singular incident, such as a car crash, also stressing that it was not until the infant’s harm was imobile that they brought him to the emergency room.

In holding the charge over against Dailey, Dieter acknowledged that Welickovitch’s arguments were noted.

Dieter further ruled that Dailey will be eligible for pretrial services, though that will come with a number of strict conditions, she said.