The boy died from internal injuries early Sunday, officials said.
CAMDEN -- The Pennsauken man who allegedly beat his girlfriend's 2-year-old to death told the toddler to "put up his hands" to fight before knocking him out, a prosecutor said in court Tuesday.
Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah said that Zacchery Tricoche, 24, punched the boy twice in the torso, both times sending him backwards so he hit his head on the wall of the Mansion Avenue apartment. The second time, the child was knocked out, she said.
The boy, who was 2 years and 8 months, died from his injuries. Tricoche is charged with first-degree murder.
He was identified in court only by his initials but his family said outside of the courthouse that his name was Jamil Baskerville Jr.
At his arraignment Tuesday, Shah recounted the details of the encounter that the toddler's mother gave to police after calling 911 at 11:28 p.m. Saturday. While she spoke some in the crowded courtroom wept, covered their faces and hugged each other for support.
Standing nearby, Tricoche listened with his head hung low and his brow furrowed.
Judge Edward J. McBride Jr. set his bail at $1 million full cash, noting Tricoche's criminal history and the fact that he faces the most serious sentence in the state of New Jersey: life in prison without parole.
Shah seemed emotional as she told McBride that the boy was only 36 inches tall and 29 pounds.
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The boy's mother told police that her boyfriend assaulted J.B. after the couple had gotten into an argument over her grocery shopping.
"Her failure was she didn't get anything the defendant like to eat," Shah said.
Tricoche pushed her, which caused her son to start to cry, she told police.
At that point, Tricoche punched the boy in the chest, sending him into the wall.
Tricoche told the boy to "put his hands up," Shah said, meaning "that he should form a boxing stance to fight this full-grown man."
The boy's mother called 911 to report that her son had vomited and then became unconscious. She told dispatchers that her boyfriend was performing CPR and that her son had bruises on his chest.
The incident happened in a small apartment in the rear of a home on Mansion Avenue, Shah said.
Emergency responders were unable to save the boy, and he died from his injuries shortly after midnight at Cooper University Hospital.
Shah said the postmortem showed contusions to the chest and head and a "devastating crush and laceration injury to the liver. While his cause of death is listed as blunt force abdominal trauma, she said, he essentially bled to death internally from his liver injury.
Tricoche only spoke in court to say that he understood the charges, to tell the judge how to pronounce his last name, and to say that he had a public defender. He did not name the attorney and no attorney stood with him at the arraignment.
In arguing for the high bail, Shah said Tricoche's criminal record includes a juvenile conviction for conspiracy to distribute narcotics as well as multiple adult convictions. They include a 2011 conviction on two counts of distributing drugs in a school zone, for which he served three years in prison, and a 2014 conviction for loitering to obtain a controlled substance.
He also has two open cases that are scheduled for sentencing in September. Neither Shah nor McBride specified what the charges were.
McBride noted that in addition to skipping court dates, Tricoche "absconded from parole" after his state prison stay.
As he was led out of the courtroom, Tricoche eyed the judge and then glanced back towards the crowd seated in the courtroom.
A spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor's office said the family members of the victim were in court but did not willing to speak with the media Tuesday.
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.