Aug. 28—ROCHESTER — Darius Pitchford refused to reenter a courtroom with his shirt turned inside out. Then, he was taken into custody.
Pitchford, 35, of Rochester, wore a shirt covered in pictures of his 3-year-old son, who died in 2022, to his pretrial hearing on Tuesday.
"It's clear that I'm going to represent my son," Pitchford said to Olmsted County deputies and an attorney outside the courtroom. "If I'm not allowed to wear my shirt and I've gotta wear it inside out, I'm not going back in there."
During the hearing, Pitchford, who is charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and felony neglect of a child, told the court he would be representing himself because his application for a public defender was denied.
District Judge Lisa Hayne went over his application with him in court, noting that not enough information was provided regarding his eligibility. In Minnesota, public defenders are appointed to individuals who are unable to afford private attorneys. According to Minnesota statutes and case law, applications can be denied if an individual refuses to provide their financial records — including the income of a spouse, partner or live-in significant other.
Pitchford refused to provide his partner's financial information, ultimately waiving his right to a public defender.
After the prosecution told District Judge Lisa Hayne that they had concerns for a fair jury trial, Hayne sent Pitchford out of the room to apply for advisory counsel. Hayne also asked him to turn his shirt inside-out before coming back in because it was "not appropriate" for court, she told him.
"This is my son," Pitchford said in court. "This is the reason I'm here."
Later that afternoon, Pitchford refused to enter the courtroom after Hayne summoned him back in to discuss the advisory counsel and next steps. He waited in the lobby of the courthouse and refused to reenter.
He was taken into custody for being in direct contempt of court.
On Feb. 14, 2022, a Rochester police officer responded to a report of a deceased person, according to the criminal complaint. Upon arrival, the officer discovered the deceased person was 3-year-old D-Angelo Pitchford Pavlovic.
An investigation revealed that Pitchford, D-Angelo's father, took the child to the Olmsted Medical Center emergency room the night before. D-Angelo was sick all day and complained about a stomach ache. Medical staff told law enforcement that D-Angelo arrived at the ER pale, lethargic and dehydrated. The complaint states Pitchford continuously obstructed medical personnel from treating the child and denied any further testing following an initial examination and blood work. The staff told Pitchford that D-Angelo was at risk of kidney failure and dehydration, the complaint alleges.
According to the criminal complaint, Pitchford signed D-Angelo's discharge papers, which said "return to the ER as soon as possible. Your child may die."
As Pitchford was leaving, medical personnel again told Pitchford that his child's life was at risk, the Post Bulletin previously reported. Medical personnel were not able to override Pitchford's decision to leave because they could not say with medical certainty what was wrong with D-Angelo.
When Pitchford got home around 2:30 a.m., D-Angelo took his coat off, asked for water and took a couple of sips from a cup Pitchford brought. Pitchford asked D-Angelo if he was OK. D-Angelo rolled his eyes and moaned, at which point Pitchford brought D-Angelo to his mother, Andreja Pavlovic.
D-Angelo laid in the hallway and continued to vomit. The parents gave the boy nausea medicine but he threw that up, too. Around 5:18 a.m., Pitchford told investigators that he heard D-Angelo rolling around on the floor saying "ma."
Pavlovic told investigators that she and D-Angelo fell asleep on her bed, with him in her arms. Around 6:30 a.m., she awoke to her phone ringing and she realized D-Angelo was not on the bed anymore.
She found him dead, curled into a fetal position, on the floor.
An autopsy showed that D-Angelo died due to complications of paraduodenal hernia, a rare type of hernia that results from incomplete rotation of the midgut. The hernia would have been seen on a X-ray and would have required immediate surgery.
According to the complaint, Pavlovic brought D-Angelo to the hospital for similar reasons on previous occasions in which D-Angelo would receive medical care such as IV fluids and blood draws. Pitchford told investigators that he wanted to take D-Angelo this time so he could ask more questions.
"I wish they would have taken his symptoms more seriously," Pavlovic told the Post Bulletin on Tuesday. "The first time I took him into the ER, I just wish they would have really taken him seriously instead of letting me decide what was best for D-Angelo."
Pavlovic attended Tuesday's hearing wearing a shirt with D-Angelo's face on it. She filed a lawsuit against Olmsted Medical Center and the doctor who treated her son a month after D-Angelo's death. According to Minnesota court records, pretrial and trial hearings for the wrongful death case are scheduled for August and September 2025.
Pitchford told the Post Bulletin he believes charges were filed against him because of the lawsuit against OMC and the doctor. He also claimed he never saw or signed the discharge papers needed to release his son from OMC. According to the criminal complaint, however, Pitchford signed the discharge paperwork at 2:07 a.m.
"I know I did everything in my power to protect my son," Pitchford told the Post Bulletin. "I'm a parent. I'm not medically inclined. I asked the right questions, they didn't get answered."
Pitchford said he's confident going into the trial.
"My word against his word. That's what this boils down to. That's why I'm even more confident going in this courtroom with no representation. ... I have no concerns because I did nothing wrong."
A review hearing for Pitchford was scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday.
