Mukilteo man sentenced to 3 years for abuse of infant son

EVERETT — A Mukilteo man insisted again that he didn’t break his 5-week-old son’s bones.

His lawyer, a veteran public defender, stood by his client’s side Thursday, saying his experts had been ready to testify that the infant likely suffered from metabolic bone disease, not “shaken baby syndrome,” the conclusion reached by doctors at Children’s Hospital Seattle.

“For me it’s sad,” defense attorney Neal Friedman said. “I don’t like appearing in front of the court when I don’t think my client did anything. That’s where I find myself today.”

Andre Ash was sentenced Thursday to nearly three years in prison. He has been in custody since his arrest in March 2015 and likely will be released soon. He was ordered not to have any contact with his son for a decade. The boy is living with a foster family.

The toddler is healthy and happy, the judge was told. He is a “warrior,” his grandparents wrote in a letter to Superior Court Judge Anita Farris.

“Even though what our grandson endured as an infant is horrific, he is now thriving with his wonderful family,” they wrote.

They urged the judge to sentence Ash to an extra 10 months in prison, the maximum under the law. They also encouraged Farris to make Ash, 35, take anger management classes. And they think he needs treatment for alcohol abuse. They believe he took his anger out on his son.

The baby’s grandmother took the boy to the Everett Clinic in Mukilteo after she noticed a lump on his head. After an evaluation at the clinic, the boy was transported to Children’s Hospital in Seattle. Doctors discovered multiple injuries, including broken ribs, a fractured skull and a broken arm and leg. They concluded that the injuries were the result of abuse.

Mukilteo police reported that Ash admitted that he shook his son March 13, 2015, because the infant wouldn’t stop crying. The baby’s head struck a wall, Ash said. He also admitted to shaking his son more than once, according to police reports. Ash later told detectives that he may have fractured the boy’s ribs when he was squeezing him.

Ash later insisted that he gave police a false confession because he wanted the boy to stay with his mother. He was afraid a jury wouldn’t believe him, saying, “I am uncomfortable speaking in public,” court papers said.

Farris on Thursday ordered Ash to undergo treatment for domestic violence perpetrators.

“I didn’t hurt my son. I’m just glad he’s OK, and I’m ready to move on,” Ash said Thursday.

Friedman and Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Bob Langbehn agreed that if the case had gone to trial it would have been a battle of experts.

“I was really worried that a jury would just throw up their hands,” unable to sort out the science, Langbehn said.

Friedman’s experts would have pointed out that the boy didn’t have any bruising, restriction of motion, obvious pain, or any other signs of being assaulted, the public defender wrote.

“What was going to be problematic, as Mr. Ash understood, was his statement,” Friedman said.

In the end, Ash opted to have Farris decide his fate after losing the battle to throw out his confession, which he claimed was coerced during a two-hour interrogation.

Farris, after reviewing the police and medical reports, convicted Ash of second-degree assault of a child. At that time, she didn’t review the defense experts’ reports.

Friedman supplied Farris the defense experts’ reports before the sentencing. The judge on Thursday said she agreed with the lawyers’ predictions that the trial would have hinged on medical testimony. The doctors hired by the defense are highly-regarded, she said, as are the physicians at Children’s Hospital.

If they’d gone to a jury trial, prosecutors would have risked an acquittal, Farris said.

Langbehn agreed to drop an aggravating factor, which would have opened the door to a longer sentence. He also agreed to recommend the minimum sentence allowed by law. He told the judge his primary concern was for the child’s long-term well-being. A conviction provides more certainty that the child will not be returned to Ash, Langbehn said.

“My primary focus has always been the health, safety and welfare of the child,” he said.

Ash is expected to appeal his conviction, including the judge’s ruling that his statements to police were admissible.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.