'Robbie is dead': Trial begins for Munhall man charged in 2-year-old's death

A 6-year-old boy took the witness stand on Wednesday and told the jury how his little brother Robbie died two years ago.

“He drunk something and then he died,” the boy said, recalling the night of May 12, 2022.

When police officers arrived at his Margaret Street apartment in Munhall around 1:30 a.m., they found 2-year-old Robbie Kraft unresponsive.

A month later, the boys’ parents were both charged with criminal homicide.

Investigators said Robbie from fentanyl poisoning.

James Kraft, 41, is on trial this week in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. The boy’s mother, Paige Hufnagel, will be tried separately.

In addition to homicide, the couple faces three counts each of child endangerment and reckless endangerment after police discovered numerous empty stamp bags, containing drug residue throughout their apartment.

Kraft has a history of addiction; told police he kept the empty stamp bags in order to ingest the residue, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

On Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Tom Kelly called five witnesses to testify. Among them was Munhall police Officer Cody Hayden, who responded to the call that night.

The prosecution played video from Hayden’s body camera that showed him entering the apartment to encounter mounds of garbage stacked around the living area. That’s where he also encountered Hufnagel and the other two boys in the house, who were 7 and 4.

The then-4-year-old who testified Wednesday, repeatedly told officers that “Robbie is dead.”

Bodycam footage showed Hayden encouraging the boys to put clothes and shoes on so they would not step on anything.

“There’s stamp bags on the (expletive) floor,” Hayden said in the video to another officer. “And these (expletive) kids are living in it.”

On Wednesday, before the 6-year-old even took the stand, his father was removed from the courtroom after he repeatedly interrupted the proceedings.

Kraft mumbled loudly about disliking his lawyer, Kelvin Morris. The jury was temporarily excused while the parties discussed Kraft’s behavior.

“This man doesn’t do anything,” Kraft said of his attorney.

The defendant argued that he was not given enough time to understand a potential plea offer and wanted to find new representation.

Judge Jennifer Satler, who is presiding over the trial, pointed out that Kraft has had three previous lawyers, who were no longer working on his case.

“You are prejudiced,” Kraft said to the judge.

Satler asked Kraft if he wished to represent himself, which he declined. The judge then informed him that if he continued to have outbursts in front of the jury she would have to remove him.

“I will not have this delayed anymore,” Satler said. “It’s happening today.”

Kraft continued to argue with the judge, at which point she informed him the trial would take place without him.

Six Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies entered the courtroom to remove him. Later, one of them informed Satler that Kraft had taken his shirt off and was slamming things in the cell and shadow boxing.

“He is really not in the right state of mind to sit,” the deputy said.

Shortly after 11 a.m., jurors were brought back into the courtroom and Kelly, the prosecutor, began his opening statement describing to the panel Robbie’s living conditions.

“He lived in a house with thousands and thousands and thousands of used stamps,” Kelly said of the drug paraphernalia. “That was his life.”

He asked the jurors to set their emotions aside and think of Kraft’s choices — stating that he “put his children in unjustifiable” risk.

In his opening, defense attorney Morris told the jury not to form an opinion too early. He described Kraft as a father who was beside himself after the death.

Following the lunch recess, Satler allowed Kraft to return to court, this time with his ankles shackled. He kept putting his head in his hands and rubbing his temples, until he finally announced again that he no longer wanted Morris to represent him.

Satler again ordered Kraft to be removed.

Morris remained on the case.

During the afternoon session, Kelly called three other medical witnesses, including Idris Evans, an intensive care physician at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County Forensic Lab toxicologist Katrina Lindauer and Michelle Clayton, the chief of the UPMC child advocacy center.

Evans testified that he interacted with Robbie’s parents when the boy was admitted to the hospital.

The prognosis was grim.

“He suffered life-threatening injuries and was unlikely to survive,” Evans said he told the parents.

Robbie lived for only about 12 more hours.

Lindauer told the jury that the lab tested six forms of Robbie’s blood taken from the hospital and the autopsy — they all came back positive for fentanyl.

Clayton also testified that on the afternoon of May 12, the then-4-year-old boy began to become symptomatic for exposure to fentanyl. He tested positive and was treated.

While on the stand, Robbie’s 6-year-old brother told the jury that he no longer lives with his parents; he has been living with his grandmother since Robbie died.

The trial is scheduled to continue Thursday morning.