Vegas dad faces judge in death of 3-year-old son

(AP) — A 26-year-old father whose lawyer said he moved recently from Hawaii to Nevada sobbed Tuesday during his first appearance in a Las Vegas courtroom on a murder charge alleging he fatally injured his young son.

Jonathan Quisano stood in shackles next to his public defense attorney, Jeff Banks, while Justice of the Peace Diana Sullivan scheduled a July 22 preliminary hearing and ordered Quisano held without bail at the Clark County jail.

Quisano spoke during the brief hearing only to say he could not afford to hire an attorney. He was not asked to enter a plea.

Outside court, Banks said Quisano intends to plead not guilty. Banks said Quisano moved late last year from Hawaii to Las Vegas.

Quisano was arrested Friday, the same day 3-year-old Khayden Quisano was pronounced dead at University Medical Center in Las Vegas of head and internal injuries that doctors and investigators said were too severe to have been caused by a fall, according to a police report.

The boy had been hospitalized Thursday after his mother, Christina Rodrigues, called police to say the child had fallen in a northwest Las Vegas home while being cared for by Quisano.

The father told police the child fell while playing on the back of a sofa.