SBS: Ohio: David Darst guilty at repeat trial

Ed Gebert : June 3 2011
On Thursday, a jury of eight men and four women accomplished what a jury three months earlier could not do -- reach a verdict in the case against David A. Darst. The first trial ended when jurors could not agree on whether or not the Van Wert man caused major injuries to his then nine-week-old son back in April of 2010. This time after more than six hours of deliberations, the 12 on the panel reached a guilty verdict against Darst on the charge of second-degree felony child endangering.
"I'm happy," stated Assistant Van Wert County Prosecutor Eva Yarger after the verdict was read. "I think this was the right verdict, and I think justice was served. I believed in this case, which is why I tried it again."The prosecution accused Darst of causing a serious injury to the infant when he watched the baby alone on April 22, 2010. Young Logan Darst was finally taken to the Van Wert County Hospital emergency room two days later when he was apparently having some sort of seizures. The baby was subsequently transferred to Dayton Children's Hospital where medical personnel noticed two subdural hematomas, or brain bleeds. The child was also diagnosed with retinal hemorrhages in both eyes and a brain injury from lack of oxygen. The doctors in Dayton gave the case a high probability of being Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
In his defense, Darst claimed that the only thing that happened to his son on the 22nd was that the child had slipped from his grasp while on the arm of an upholstered chair. Darst stated that he managed to trap the baby against the arm of the chair so he would not fall, causing three small bruises on the infant's chest. These bruises were not enough to cause injuries common to SBS. On the witness stand, Darst even admitted that the baby's head did not hit the arm of the chair or the floor during that incident.
While the prosecution pointed to Darst as the child's caretaker when the brain injuries occurred, both Darst and his wife claimed the real damage was done the next evening while the couple was at work and Logan was being watched by relatives. However, statements made to investigators placed a big change in the baby's behavior after the child was left with his father. In testimony, both parents made the claim that the baby was actually fine during that day and that earlier statements were incorrect.
The baby was dismissed from Dayton Children's Hospital on April 28, 2010 into foster care. In August, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor near his spinal cord. Logan Darst died of cancer in January at the age of 11 months. Doctors found there was no correlation between the SBS injuries and the cancer.One of the toughest parts of the trial for jury members was wading through the testimony from doctors involved in the case. Yarger said she was deliberate about making sure that evidence was presented clearly in the retrial. "I think I approached the medical testimony differently," she disclosed. "I tried to make it simpler and on a more understandable level. I've dealt with these things and been to seminars and been to training and I forget that ordinary people may not 'get it' the first time."
The major chore for jurors was to figure out who to believe when conflicting testimony was given. While other relatives gave one side of the story, the Darsts frequently denied that version, offering their own and even calling the others 'liars' when confronted by the differing stories. As for Yarger, she said simply that the decision to retry the case after the March mistrial was because she knew which side to believe.
"I believed [Darst] did it, and I felt it was important to at least try again," she declared." I honestly, in my heart, knew he did it... I think it is justice for Logan. I think it's important in the future. If the defendant has any other children, this is now on his record. That was our concern all along, any future children, because his wife believed him. If they were going to have more children, that was always going to be a concern."
Judge Sumner Walters presided over the three-day trial in Van Wert County Court of Common Pleas. With the conviction, Darst now faces a June 30 sentencing hearing. He faces from two to eight years in prison and a maximum $15,000 fine.

SBS: Illinois: Ibrahim Kibayasi tried for 1st degree murder

By Barbara Vitello

Ibrahim Kibayasi insists he never intended to hurt his son, let alone kill him.
“I didn’t want to kill my son,” said the Mount Prospect man, wiping away tears as he testified in his own defense Wednesday to conclude the third day of his first-degree murder trial. “I didn’t bring him into this world to kill him.

 Authorities say Kibayasi, 31, shook 5-month-old Dylan Kibayasi on Sept. 3, 2009, causing a subdural hematoma that resulted in the child’s death several days later.

He testified he was happy to learn in November 2008 that his girlfriend was carrying their son.
“It’s the dream of every man to have a boy,” said Kibayasi, who came to the U.S. from Tanzania in 2002 to attend college in Atlanta. After a year, he testified that he relocated to Illinois and worked at a Bloomingdale nursing home, as a phone technician for Motorola and as a transportation analyst.
Under direct examination from defense attorney Robert Callahan, Kibayasi testified that Dylan had slept fitfully the night of Sept. 2 and had been ill for several days with a slight fever, diarrhea and vomiting. Kibayasi admitted he had a lot on his mind that day and that he “got a little frustrated” with Dylan’s crying.
“I just lost my mind,” said Kibayasi describing how he grabbed the baby and shook him three or four times, saying, “Why are you crying?”
He said he freaked out when Dylan lost consciousness and attempted CPR on the baby. The baby opened his eyes and started crying which Kibayasi said he believed was a good sign. As they drove to the hospital, Dylan appeared to revive, so Kibayasi went instead to pick up his girlfriend, Dylan’s mother, from work. On the way home, Dylan suffered a seizure and was transported by paramedics to Lutheran General Hospital.
Emergency pediatrician Dr. Clifford Spanierman testified that he determined the baby suffered an intracranial injury to the brain consistent with shaken baby syndrome,
“Due to the dramatic onset of symptoms, it appeared to be very recent, within hours,” Spanierman said.
Spanierman further testified that Dylan’s injury would have required “considerable force” and would not have resulted from an infant’s daily activities. However, he added that the baby suffered no skull fracture, neck, spinal cord or soft tissue damage.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Clarke minced no words in cross-examining Kibayasi, challenging his claims that he lost his mind and didn’t realize what he was doing at the time.
“You realize now you killed your son,” Clarke said.
“I can’t say I killed him,” said Kibayasi who testified for about one hour. “I didn’t know anything at the time. I didn’t know it would cause his death.”
Under Clark’s cross-examination, Kibayasi admitted he had problems controlling his anger. He also said he didn’t tell his girlfriend because he felt guilty.
“I was in denial. I kept telling myself ‘I didn’t cause this,’” he said.
Kibayasi claimed he didn’t tell paramedics or emergency room physicians about the shaking because he believed they were experts who knew what to do.
“I sit in my jail cell thinking, ‘How did it happen?’ ‘What was I thinking?’” Kibayasi said.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the Rolling Meadows courthouse.

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110420/news/704209796/#ixzz1KC6OpjLs

SBS: Minnesota: Jeffrey Davis sentenced

PAT PHEIFER  April 1, 2011

Jeffrey A. Davis stood dry-eyed at his sentencing hearing Friday as he listened to prosecutor Juan Hoyos read a letter from the mother of his son, Liam. The baby was just 6 weeks old on March 15, 2010, when Davis caused him permanent brain damage.
The letter from Chloe Shablo called Davis, 33, "an inhuman monster" for turning their healthy, happy baby into "a hollow shell of what he's supposed to be."
Davis of St. Paul had nothing to say before Ramsey County District Judge Salvador Rosas sentenced him to 4 years and 9 months in prison. He pleaded guilty Jan. 4 to one felony count of malicious punishment of a child.
Davis was caring for the boy alone on March 15, 2010, while Shablo, his fiancée, worked. At his plea hearing, defense attorney Ryan Garry told the judge that Liam was fussy, screaming and wasn't sleeping much. Davis told the judge that he was frustrated and exhausted when the baby kept screaming and he shook him for "10 or 15 seconds, tops."
That was a lie, Shablo's letter said. In addition to the injuries Davis inflicted by violently shaking the boy, Liam had two broken legs and three broken ribs. His entire body was swollen more than two times its normal size and he couldn't breathe without a ventilator. Davis didn't call 911 until four hours later, Shablo wrote.
Liam, who is more than a year old now, has visual impairment, can't roll over, can't put any weight on his legs, can't hold his own bottle, the letter said. He takes medication three times a day for seizures but still has them, his mother said.
Liam's maternal grandmother and great-grandmother sobbed from the courtroom benches throughout the hearing. Shablo was not in court; media coverage of the case caused her too much stress, Hoyos said.
Garry, Davis' attorney, argued for a lower sentence Friday. Davis had a difficult childhood, he said, and endured abuse from his father and stepmother. Despite that, he "stayed out of the cross hairs of law enforcement for 33 years," Garry said.
Davis never intended to hurt his son that day and has already endured the worst punishment that he can get -- never being able to see his son again, Garry told the judge.
Rosas, however, showed no sympathy for Davis.
"A lot of people had tough childhoods," Rosas said. "That doesn't mean he had to take that out on the child. There seems to be a minimization of his actions here."
Although Davis had been free on bail, the judge ordered him taken into custody immediately to begin serving his sentence.
Pat Pheifer • 612-741-4992
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/119100499.html

SBS: Ontario statistics

REG PEERENBOOM

CORNWALL — Eastern Ontario has a higher rate of "shaken baby syndrome" (SBS) incidents, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis told the Eastern Ontario Health Unit board Thursday.

Roumeliotis told the board the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the local Children's Aid Society has data indicating the extensiveness of SBS.
It's not clear why the region has more cases of SBS, Roumeliotis said, but underlying socio-economic and drug/alcohol addiction factors are likely causes.
"As we get into a period of deeper recession, there is higher cases of child abuse, resulting from frustration," he said.
It's a long-known fact that eastern Ontario's poverty level — particularly in Cornwall — and alcohol abuse is greater than most other parts of the province.
Recent national research indicates the median age of SBS is 4.6 months, ranging from seven days to almost five years of age. Of 364 cases, 45% suffered from seizures, 43% from decreased level of consciousness, 34% in respiratory difficulty and 46% from bruising.
Also, 60% of SBT cases involved a previous history and/or clinical evidence of abuse, while 22% of families had previous involvement with a child welfare agency.
To combat SBS, Roumeliotis told the board his staff is preparing to introduce the PURPLE Program.
The PURPLE program is a full-colour 11-page booklet and 10-minute DVD which helps parents of newborns to understand crying in normal infants. PURPLE stands for P, peak of crying; E, unexpected; R, resists soothing; P, pain; L, long-lasting; E, evening.
Excessive crying or colic from babies sometimes can overwhelm parents emotionally who, in turn, shake their baby.
The program, based on 25 years of scientific research, indicates that almost all infants have a 3-4 month period of colic, starting after the second week after birth — the period of PURPLE.

Of course, the severity of PURPLE is greater and lesser depending on the child.

Researchers note that even purely healthy babies can be colic, which mystifies parents, who resort to frequent and subsequently unnecessary trips to a health-care professional.
The program is divided into five categories: sleeping, soothing, crying, protecting your infant and information for fathers.
Roumeliotis explained the program will be offered to expecting parents, much in the same way pre-natal classes are available.
He said the three birthing hospitals within the health unit (Cornwall, Winchester and Hawkesbury) will be involved in the program.
One challenge he hopes to overcome to ensure the program will be available in French, as well as English.
• Roumeliotis told the board he is concerned with the lack of consultation from the Ontario government on changes to public health legislation.
Bill 141 proposes, among other objectives, to allow the Ontario chief medical officer of health to order a local medical officer of health to undertake actions if there is a risk of a pandemic, or emergency that will impact health, also for the chief medical officer to take possession of public buildings if there is health risk from communicable disease or other event.
"They just sprung it on us," Roumeliotis said of the government's notification to the Council of Ontario Medical Officers of Health, which he chairs, before Bill 141 was tabled.
Roumeliotis said his council get have provided considerable input as the legislation was developed.
"I'm still hoping," he said, of another chance the government could hear out the council, even though its nearly approved by Queen's Park.
• The health unit is finalizing plans to relocate its current Winchester office at 457 Main St., E.
The office will be housed in a new addition next to the Winchester District Memorial Hospital. Roumeliotis noted the current office is need of repairs, whereas the hospital connection will not only greatly improve the environment for staff and clients, but also ideally situated next to hospital services.
http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3043155

SBS: Missouri: caregiver Rebecca Harris takes Alford plea

Trish Feldt |  March 21, 2011

It was was an ordinary day in the Wakefield home. On October 26, 2007, Caprina, a busy mom, was headed out to work and dad, Aaron, had a few hours before he had to go to work himself. He fed his 4-month-old son, Kaleb and 2-year-old daughter, Ayden breakfast, then spent the rest of the morning playing with the children.
After lunch, Aaron left for work and entrusted his precious children to be cared for by Rebecca Lynn Harris. This was their new routine after Caprina returned to work full time on October 1, 2007. Harris, formerly of O’Fallon, was hired by the Wakefield’s as an in-home caregiver.
At 4:57 p.m., Caprina received a phone call from Harris, telling her that Kaleb wasn’t breathing and that paramedics were transporting him to Barnes-St. Peters Hospital.
“I arrived at the hospital and was met with a wall of hospital personnel who wouldn’t let me see him, nor did they tell me what was wrong. Finally, a pediatric doctor ascended to the hallway with the news that changed everything,” Caprina said.
Kaleb had a skull fracture and bleeding in the brain. The doctors couldn't tell how severe the damage was with their limited equipment. Kaleb was transported to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for further treatment.
“The next several weeks at Children’s Hospital were touch and go. Kaleb’s status would take one step forward and then two back. We didn’t know for two weeks if our son was going to survive,” Wakefield said.
Kaleb did survive. The Wakefields knew they had a long road ahead of them, but hoped Kaleb’s condition would continue to improve.

It was determined that Kaleb had been violently shaken. Caprina Wakefield said the family is still involved in an ongoing legal battle with Harris, who took an Alford Plea last November.
Also known as Shaken Baby Syndrome, this type of abuse oftentimes causes severe brain damage in the victim. Shaking a baby causes the brain to rock back and forth in the skull. When a child is shaken, the brain suffers contusions, or bruising from hitting the skull and thousands of tiny blood vessels in the brain break causing bleeding on the brain. The combination of the contusions and bleeding causes the brain to swell. When this happens, the brains intercranial pressure becomes excessive, causing brain damage. This damage is what results in the baby’s life long struggles.
A month after being released from the hospital, Kaleb began to have myoclonic seizures and was put on three different seizure medicines to control them. The medicines significantly retarded his brain activity, which delayed Kaleb’s development further. Kaleb also suffered from chronic respiratory diseases, such as pneumonia and chronic bronchitis because he was unable to move like a normally developing child. He took nebulizer treatments four times a day along with his seizure medicines. He was admitted to the hospital a couple of times because of high fevers.
“Taking Kaleb to the E.R. at Children’s practically became a routine exercise for our family. Much like a fire drill, we had a plan that we followed when we suspected Kaleb needed to go to the hospital. In addition to all of this, we were also facing the stress of dealing with the legal aspect of Kaleb’s injury,” Caprina said.
Eventually, Kaleb was successfully weaned off the seizure medications, which has improved his rehabilitation. Kaleb still has a long way to go.  At almost 4 years old, he is just now learning to walk. Most children his age are feeding and dressing themselves, but for Kaleb, those are skills he has yet to master.
http://ofallon.patch.com/articles/kalebs-journey-ofallon-fundraiser-to-raise-awareness-of-child-abuse

SBS: North Carolina: Jeremiah Seckman pleads guilty to felony child abuse

By Beth Pleming · March 11, 2011 ·
26-year-old Waynesville man whose infant daughter was blinded after he “burped” her will spend seven months in prison after pleading guilty Monday to felony child abuse.
Jeremiah Seckman pleaded guilty to felony child abuse inflicting serious physical injury before Superior Court Judge Gary Gavenus, who imposed a split sentence, including seven months active prison time and 36 months of probation.
Seckman said nothing in court Monday, but told authorities during early interviews he was awakened by the child several times during the night of Aug. 16, 2009, and that he burped the baby and went back to bed, prosecutor Jeff Jones told the court. The following morning, the child appeared to be having a seizure. Numerous medical professionals looked at the case and determined the baby’s injuries are consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
The child has been diagnosed as blind, Jones said, but appears to be showing signs of slight improvement.
Attorneys Jonathan Song and Pat Smathers represented Seckman in court Monday.
“This is a very tragic case for all involved, especially the child,” Song said. “(Seckman) hopes this will bring some closure to everyone involved.”
Prosecutors agreed to accept Seckman’s plea to a negotiated lower class felony child abuse charge primarily because it’s what her mother wants, Jones said. He had her confirm for the court that she is in agreement with the arrangement.
She believes it’s in the child’s best interest to take the plea so they can move on with their lives, he continued. Having a felony conviction will enable her to seek to terminate his parental rights, if she chooses to do so.
District Attorney Mike Bonfoey said refusing the plea offer wasn’t worth the risk of losing the case in a jury trial.
“We trust the jury’s decision in most cases, but there are some cases we don’t want to risk the jury doing what we think is the wrong thing to do,” he said. “We gave a lot of credence to the biological mother of this child. She knows her child probably better than anyone else, and probably knows the defendant better than anyone else.”
Furthermore, Jones said, signs that the child’s eyesight is improving, however slightly, poses a prosecutorial challenge to proving that the injuries are permanent, a necessary element for a conviction to the higher felony.
“In a case like this where a custodial parent knows her child best,” Jones said prosecutors believed this was the right thing to do. Counsel on both sides agreed “there was no intention to blind this child,” he said.
Special sentencing conditions that called for a split sentence were part of the plea deal. Gavenus suspended a 29- to 44 month sentence, placed Seckman on probation for three years. As a special condition of probation, he ordered Seckman to serve seven months active in the N.C. Department of Corrections. Upon his release, he will be placed under intensive supervision for six months, which will require him to complete community service and parenting classes. If he violates probation, the remaining portion of his sentence will be activated, minus 21 days for time served.
He is not to have any direct or indirect contact with his now 20-month old daughter or her mother, per the judge’s orders.
http://www.themountaineer.com/child-abuser-gets-seven-months-for-blinding-baby-5354

SBS: Florida: Kevin McDonald charged

By JAY STAPLETON,   March 16, 2011

Eli

McDonald

DELAND -- Two doctors testified for prosecutors Tuesday they believe a 5-week-old child suffered a "severe brain injury" by being violently shaken at his Edgewater home.
It will be up to the jury to decide who did the shaking.
The crucial medical testimony was heard at the start of a trial that could send the child's father, Kevin McDonald, 32, to prison for 30 years if convicted of aggravated child abuse.
McDonald's lawyer, Greg Johnson, however, said the time frame of when the injury occurred in late March 2008 is not clear.
"It's a who-dunnit," he said. "The time frame (of the injury) includes time when the mother was alone with the child."
Prosecutors Larry Avallone and Erica Kane disagreed. They pointed out in testimony at the start of the trial that McDonald's son Eli was being watched by him on March 30, 2008, when the boy appeared "limp" and was taken to a hospital.
The child spent a week on a ventilator, suffered seizures and bleeding on the brain.
Dr. Mark Kessler, a pediatrician and medical director of the Child Protection Team at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, said McDonald told him the child had been crying when there "was a sudden change in the child's mental status, a limpness."
McDonald told authorities the child may have been hurt when he was rocked in a car seat. The doctor said symptoms of the injury the child suffered would have been seen "in seconds" after being inflicted.
Kessler said an exam of the child revealed no outward signs of head injury. The doctor reviewed brain scans in front of the jury.
Pointing to dark and light spots on the screen, he said the scans illustrated damage to the child's brain.
"This is a very concerning picture," Kessler said. "Because we're seeing blood on the surface of the brain."
The doctor said there were further signs of trauma in an exam of the child's eye retinas, another indicator of abuse.
"It's my opinion this child had been the victim of abusive head trauma," Kessler said.
The term shaken baby syndrome has fallen out of favor by some experts because it excludes the possibility of other factors in causing injury, such as blunt force trauma.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders, a baby's large head in relation to body size and weak neck muscles make infants vulnerable to brain damage from violent moves back and forth.
Shaking makes the brain move back and forth inside the skull, causing bruising, swelling and bleeding, which can lead to permanent brain damage or death.
McDonald 's son, who is now 3-years-old, suffered brain damage and "verbal delay" prosecutors said.
Dr. Eric Trumble, another pediatrician at Arnold Palmer, testified the injury to the baby occurred over a short period of time, "within a couple of days" of being brought to the hospital.
Based on brain scans showing blood on the brain and other medical evidence, Trumble reached the opinion the child was a victim of violence. "There's a 95 percent chance this was a nonaccidental trauma," he said.
Kessler, in his review of the events leading to the child's hospitalization, narrowed the time frame of injury to have occurred "within seconds" of the symptoms appearing.
"The baby had been fine that weekend, when mom went to work Sunday morning," he said. "Phone calls were made that the baby was well that morning, then there was a change in his mental status Sunday afternoon.
"It's not my job to say who did it," he added. "I don't know who was in the home."
The trial is expected to finish today. Circuit Judge Margaret Hudson is presiding.
It is likely McDonald will testify in his own defense before the case goes to the jury, his lawyer told the judge.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/southeast-volusia/2011/03/16/abuse-trial-centers-on-timing-of-injury.html

SBS: Missippi: Sean Alexander charged with capital murder

Mar. 16, 2011  

 Written by LaReeca Rucker

 

A Jackson man faces a capital murder charge in connection with the death of his girlfriend's 23-month-old daughter.
Sean Arlandis Alexander, 35, of Jackson initially was charged with felony child abuse, but the charge was upgraded Wednesday after the child died.
Ridgeland police Lt. Brian Myers said Alexander is being held without bond at the Madison County Detention Center pending his initial appearance in Ridgeland Municipal Court.
Authorities allege the baby was injured around 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the OakBrook Apartments.
Officers responded to a call at the University of Mississippi Medical Center after the child was brought in for treatment, Ridgeland Police Chief Jimmy Houston said.
"We sent an officer down there to begin the investigation and found out that the child was fine until her mother and mother's boyfriend got back to the apartment, and the child began to have what they thought were seizures," Houston said.
"As we got to the hospital, the doctors and emergency room personnel reported that it was a case of child abuse," he said.
"The child had bruising on the rib cage and there was bleeding from the brain."
Houston said statements were taken from the mother and Alexander, who was her boyfriend.
That information led to his arrest Monday morning.
"We are doing an autopsy first thing in the morning, and we will know more," Houston said.
He said police have not released the child or mother's name because they have additional interviews to conduct. He said the investigation into exactly what happened to the child continues.
Myers said the child's injuries seem consistent with shaken baby syndrome, but authorities will wait for autopsy results to determine the cause of death.
Alexander didn't comment about what happened to the child, but said he was alone with the child, Myers said.
He said the mother said she had stepped out of the apartment to remove another of her children from the car with a disability, leaving the girl alone with Alexander.
Madison County Coroner Alex Breeland said it can be difficult to determine if a child's death resulted from abuse.
"I don't believe it's going to be difficult in this case to determine the cause of death," he said.
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110317/NEWS/103170351/Charge-upgraded-after-death-baby?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7Cp

SBS: Indiana: Marquise Holmes charged in infant’s injuries

February 10, 2011
A Fort Wayne man is accused of causing skull fractures to a 6-month-old child he was caring for last year.

Marquise T. Holmes, 22,  was formally charged  with battery and neglect of a dependent.
Paramedics were called June 3 to a city home where they found an unconscious infant. According to court documents, hospital tests showed the baby boy had multiple skull fractures – some that were fresh, others that appeared to be in various stages of healing.
The baby’s mother said she had left him in Holmes’ care. Holmes told police the infant at some point had a seizure, then said he didn’t know whether it was a seizure but that the child’s eyes rolled back into his head and he was “out of it,” according to court documents.
The child survived.
Doctors told police the injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome, according to court documents.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110210/LOCAL/302109974/1002/LOCAL

SBS: South Carolina: Michael Carduff

January 13, 2011

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Owen Carduff, 16 months, will likely never walk or talk. He suffered severe brain damage when his 18-year-old father, Michael, shook him last January.

On Thursday, Carduff pleaded guilty to unlawful conduct toward a child and inflicting great bodily injury on a child.

Carduff was home with his son on Jan. 12 last year when the baby boy would not stop crying. That night he shook the baby, who was then 4 months old. He didn't tell the boy's mother what he'd done, worried she'd be angry with him.

Hours later, he and the boy's mother took Owen to Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill when they noticed he was having seizures. After an examination, doctors found bleeding on the baby's brain, which is a common sign of shaken baby syndrome.

At first, Carduff denied doing anything wrong, but then he made a second statement, telling police he accidentally dropped the baby on concrete steps while trying to carry his car seat. After failing a lie detector test, Carduff admitted he had become frustrated at the crying infant and shook him.

Doctors also found bruises on the infant's body.

Carduff, now 19, has been in jail for exactly a year since his arrest. On Thursday, a judge sentenced him to eight years in prison, out of a maximum sentence of 25 years had he gone to trial.

The baby's mother and grandmother both spoke out in court. Both said Carduff was not a bad person, but they wanted to see him punished for a horrible choice.

"This was not a puppy that he kicked around, he's a human baby boy," said the baby's grandmother, Charlotte Williams. "He had a choice to walk away, put him down, get help, get a family member. This was not an acceptable choice."

Owen's grandfather, Larry Williams, said he wanted a longer sentence but understood the judge's decision.

"If Owen would've died it would've been a lot stiffer sentence, but his quality of life did die," he said.

A month before the Jan. 12, 2010, incident, in December 2009, Owen was in the hospital for a similar injury. At that time, sheriff's deputies were not contacted. It's not clear why, and when Eyewitness News asked the Williams family if they were pursuing legal action about the earlier hospitalization, they said merely, “No comment."

Owen has therapy at Levine Children's Hospital three days a week. He lives with the Williams, his maternal grandparents. They know the doctors don't have a positive outlook that Owen will ever truly recover. Yet, that's what they hope and pray for every day.

"He's a miracle already that he's even alive, so we're just praying that God will increase his abilities," Larry Williams said.

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/26487318/detail.html

Child abuse: Indiana

 LIZ SHEPARD September 22, 2010

Port Huron Police Detective Brian Kerrigan held a binder on his forearm, demonstrating the way Scott Syzak showed him he had put oil on his 4-month-old daughter during a bath in 1995.

The detective then violently flipped his arm over, throwing the notebook to the ground, the same way he said Syzak demonstrated he put his daughter down.

The smack of the notebook hitting the ground in District Judge John Monaghan's courtroom seemed to send a tremor through the room, with those watching Syzak's preliminary examination gasping, covering their faces and dabbing away tears.

Kerrigan said that, while Syzak demonstrated how he put his daughter down, he spoke of his frustration with life and difficulties adjusting to life outside of prison at the time of the incident.

Syzak had been charged with abusing a 6-month-old child he was baby-sitting in 1989 in Tuscola County. He was sentenced to 32 to 48 months in prison.

Kerrigan said Syzak also told him during an interview that he did not like to be alone with the 6-month-old.

Syzak, 43, of Hobart, Ind., was bound over to circuit court on a charge of open murder, habitual offender fourth, after about two hours of testimony Tuesday.

In 1995, Syzak and his wife, Candace Syzak, told authorities the baby had fallen while getting a bath from her mother.

Kerrigan said he traveled to Indiana on Aug. 26 to interview Syzak after law-enforcement officials informed Port Huron authorities Syzak had made comments about the death of his daughter.

Kerrigan said Syzak's story of what happened the day his daughter was injured changed. In the first scenario, she had slipped out of his arms. In the later scenario, he had put her down with too much force.

Officials have said Jessica Syzak died of her injuries about a month afterward. The family was living in Port Huron at the time of the child's death.

Richard Anderson, the acting medical examiner in 1995, said he performed an autopsy on the infant.

He said the girl had a large skull fracture and the brain tissue underneath it had disintegrated.

"That is a massive injury," Anderson said, adding his findings were not consistent with a fall of about two feet.

As the doctor detailed the injuries he found on the girl, Syzak looked toward the courtroom windows, his legs constantly moving, making his shackles and the attached chains jingle.

Anderson said that in 1995 he ruled the death might have been caused by a seizure, but that was a direct result of the head injury.

He also found hemorrhaging behind the girl's eyes, a sign of shaken baby syndrome, he said.

Jessica also had nine broken ribs in the process of healing, Anderson said.

"That indicates child abuse," he said.

Anderson said he also believed the scene at the Syzak's home had been staged.

He said Jessica was wearing a blue sleeper, which was very clean.

"That's very unusual for a death scene," Anderson testified.

He said the child also showed signs of rigor mortis, which can take hours to set in after a death.

A circuit court arraignment date has not been scheduled for Syzak.

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100922/NEWS01/9220306/Witness-Syzak-s-stories-changed

SBS: Kansas

ERIN MATHEWS
Prosecutor Christina Trocheck pushed a button Monday afternoon and a large photograph of an infant lying on a pink blanket appeared on a screen in Saline County District Court.
"There are some facts that are not disputed in this case," said Trocheck, an assistant county attorney, in her closing argument. "One is that N.B. was an infant -- unable to care for herself, protect herself or tell anyone about the events of March 5, 2009."
There is a reason the jury wasn't shown a current photo of the child, who is now more than (?) 10 years old, said attorney Roger Struble, who represents Patrick Armer, the baby's father.
"I would suggest her injuries are resolved and she would appear to be normal," Struble told the four-man, eight-woman jury.
After hours of deliberation, those jurors found Armer guilty of child abuse and intentional aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in connection with injuries the child suffered. His sentencing was set for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 22.
Armer testified in his own defense Monday. He said he didn't tell investigators for several hours that he'd fallen on top of the baby because they were asking how he had shaken the baby.
"They insisted that I shook her and the injuries came from shaking her, and I did not shake her," Armer said.
Armer agreed that he had become angry and frustrated when the baby cried, "indirectly yelling" obscenities at her, kicking her crib on a couple of occasions and once stating that he would "give her something to cry about."
Initially, Armer told authorities he had no idea how the child could have sustained retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, bleeding around the front and back of her brain, and new and partially healing rib fractures.
He said Monday he initially denied knowledge because doctors had said the child's injuries were caused by shaking and he had never shaken the baby.
Police officers testified previously that after Armer was handcuffed to a table and told he was being arrested, he tearfully said he wanted to tell the truth and described the fall.
"They convinced me through eight hours of interrogation that I hurt her," Armer testified Monday. "So, if I did it, it was through a fall and an accidental fall, at that."
Armer said he thought he'd heard the baby cry downstairs and went down to pick her up from her crib. He said he headed quickly back upstairs with the child to continue watching a movie.
On the third or fourth step, he stumbled and fell forward, landing on top of the little girl, he said. He said the child's head struck a metal strip on the lip of a step.
"I'm 210 pounds, and she's 6 pounds and some ounces," he said. "I could have swore I heard a crush."
He said the baby didn't cry and appeared to be "knocked out." He said she was overly warm, so he removed her clothing and laid her on the bed. He described her as pale, having difficulty breathing, and her right eye was rolling to the side and toward the back of her head.
Trocheck asked the jury to thoroughly consider testimony from several medical professionals that a fall of the type Armer described could not account for the child's injuries. She said that despite what he told the jury, the baby's injuries and the fact that she became unresponsive and started having seizures while in his care were evidence that he physically shook her to get her to stop crying.
"Simply because Ms. Trocheck suggests to you that the baby was shaken doesn't mean it happened," Struble argued in his closing. "Just because she says Mr. Armer did it doesn't mean he did."
Trocheck said the evidence from medical professionals who treated the child and research on infants who have been violently shaken by an adult would suggest otherwise.
"Infants don't just develop those conditions unless someone inflicts them," she said.


http://www.saljournal.com/news/story/armer-9-20-10