Father gets 3 years for abuse
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, July 27, 2006
A young father’s chronic drug abuse was blamed Thursday for him losing his temper and brutally assaulting his 3-month-old infant.
Christopher R. Smith, 20, of Shoreline was sentenced to three years in prison.
Prosecutors alleged in Snohomish County Superior Court papers that Smith shook the baby hard, squeezed the child’s head, crushed the infant and hit the baby’s head on a door jamb “with significant force.”
Defense attorney Todd Maybrown told the judge Smith has been a chronic abuser of drugs and alcohol since high school, but is now determined to straighten out his life.
“This is an eloquent demonstration of how drugs can wreck a person’s life,” Judge Richard Thorpe said.
Smith told Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives he abused the now 7-month-old infant both in Washington and for a time when he and his wife lived in Massachusetts.
Doctors discovered evidence of two skull fractures, rib fractures and indications that the baby had been “whiplashed,” documents said.
Smith originally was charged with two counts of second-degree assault of a child, but deputy prosecutor Craig Matheson told Thorpe there could have been problems proving that some of the injuries occurred in Washington. Smith pleaded guilty in June to one count of assault of a child.
Matheson said doctors at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center could not firmly say if some of the injuries happened at a time when Smith and his wife lived in Washington or Massachusetts.
Matheson recommended a term of nearly 31/2 years, the high end of the sentencing range. Maybrown sought the low end of the range, about 21/2 years, because of Smith’s remorse and determination to straighten out his life.
Smith’s family members have been caring for the child, and his birth mother no longer has custody, lawyers said.
The boy is expected to make a full recovery, Maybrown told the court.
“Although (the child) sustained serious injuries, he is currently in good health with no residual damage,” Maybrown said in court documents.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
