MIAMI – A Miami man is accused of beating his stepchildren with a brick.
John George was arrested Tuesday on two counts of child abuse causing great bodily harm. Those charges were later upgraded to attempted murder Wednesday after Judge Mindy Glazer read the allegations against him.
"I think there's probable cause for two counts of attempted first-degree murder," Glazer said.
Miami police said a woman called 911 on Sunday after she spoke to George on the telephone and heard one of her sons crying in the background.
The woman, who married George last month, said George threatened her, telling her that she was going to cry for the rest of her life, according to a police report.
She said George hung up on her when she asked him if he had hurt the children. She called back several times, but George didn't answer.
When the woman arrived at the home, she saw both children bleeding from their heads. The children, ages 10 and 8, told her that George used a brick to hit them several times in their faces.
George was gone when she got there, but police later found and arrested him.
The woman told police that she and George had been arguing over infidelity issues.
George, who was on probation after serving 20 years in prison for murder, was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Both children remained in an intensive care unit Wednesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital. It was revealed in court that one of the boys has bleeding on his brain, and the other boy has a fracture to the back of his head.