A suspect with a history of prior arrests for domestic incidents has been arrested and charged in the April 20 death of a 7-month-old boy in San Francisco who had been left in his care.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced murder charges Monday against 26-year-old Joseph Williams, stemming from the death last week of an infant identified only as Baby S. The child, who is not related to Williams, was brought in to California Pacific Medical Center by Williams with signs of blunt force trauma to the head, as KRON4 reports, and the baby then died.

"The death of Baby S is a tragedy," Boudin said in a release. "We are so deeply sorry for the family, whose enormous grief we can only imagine."

"My office has filed murder charges and we will put every resource at our disposal into prosecuting this case,” he said. "We know nothing can make the family whole again, but we will work our hardest to make sure there is justice. Please know that our office is mourning with and for you."

The baby's full name, according to the Chronicle, was Synciere Williams.

As KPIX is reporting, prosecutors say that Williams was implicated in two prior incidents of alleged domestic violence in 2021 involving a girlfriend who is not the mother of Baby S. In both cases, Williams was freed without being charged because of a lack of evidence to prove that he, and not the girlfriend, was criminally responsible for the incident.

"We believe the available facts of these two cases supported the decision to not move forward with charges, but that is not enough," Boudin’s office said in the release, addressing what will likely become another knock against Boudin in the ongoing battle to recall him. "In light of this tragedy, we will be reviewing all policies related to charging domestic violence crimes, including discussions with our law enforcement partners to ensure we are all using best practices to obtain admissible evidence and to support victims."

The Chronicle reports that the reason charges were not filed in the two incidents was the girlfriend declined to cooperate with prosecutors.

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