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Yep, here's the latest from the Cit. Pat (Jackson's Newspaper..)
Dad gets prison for abuse
Kirk Coleman, an Army paratrooper who served in Iraq, did for Americans what he could not do for his child, a Jackson County judge said Thursday.
....You failed to protect your own daughter,'' Circuit Judge John McBain said Thursday before sending Coleman to prison for attempted child abuse.
McBain, nearly tripling the maximum penalty that state guidelines recommended for the charge, sentenced the 27-year-old to 3 1/3 to five years in prison for injuring his baby daughter in August and September.
He said the extent of the girl's injuries, which included nearly 20 broken bones, injuries to her private parts and brain bleeding, inspired him to stiffen the penalty. State guidelines called for zero to 14 months in prison; the maximum penalty for the offense is five years in prison.
....This case is one of the most horrible I have ever seen,'' McBain said. ....The reality is, but for the grace of God, (the girl) would probably be dead.''
The story of the baby inspired community protests and outrage.
Coleman's lawyer, Dennis Hurst, who earlier accused McBain of having a bias toward Coleman, said the judge relied more on emotions than facts when he sentenced Coleman.
He said Coleman, of Columbia Township, would appeal McBain's sentence.
Coleman, who has been portrayed by the defense as an honorable Iraq war veteran, pleaded guilty May 29 to attempted first-degree child abuse, admitting he repeatedly and accidentally hurt his daughter while drinking and taking a drug. She was 3 months old at the time.
....I'd like to apologize,'' he said Thursday, with a row of his family members sitting behind him. They declined to comment.
....I am responsible and I want to take full responsibility for my role in this,'' Coleman said.
He initially was charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was facing a possible life sentence.
Prosecutors later agreed to a plea deal, saying they feared an acquittal would allow Coleman partial custody of his daughter, who is now 13 months old.
Conflicting opinions of medical experts cast doubt on whether the baby was sexually assaulted, Assistant Prosecutor Allison Bates said at the sentencing.
There also were questions raised about whether Coleman was the sole perpetrator.
Hurst implicated Coleman's wife, Ashley Rogers, who has filed for divorce, which is pending.
Bates said Rogers, who did not attend the sentencing, was ....put through the ringer'' by the state Department of Human Services and passed a polygraph test.
....There is no indication that she was the perpetrator of these injuries,'' Bates said.
Rogers' mother, Deborah Rogers, has custody of the baby; the girl lives with both her mother and grandmother in North Carolina and receives almost daily therapy as she is suffering ....severe psychological disabilities,'' Bates said.
Coleman takes responsibility for the injuries the girl suffered during the four accidents he described in May. Before the plea hearing, he said he did not remember those injuries occurring.
He said in May that she fell out of her bouncer as he carried the chair and hit her head on a plastic bottle as he opened the refrigerator door. Two other times, he tripped on a rug or cord while holding her, he said at the plea hearing.
Thursday, he called himself a ....drunken father'' and apologized for failing to immediately get the girl medical treatment, but said he would not be held accountable for all her injuries.
A doctor testified at a preliminary examination the girl had 17 fractures, bruises and contusions around her jaw and face.
All the injuries could not be caused by the four accidents Coleman described, Hurst said.
Hurst presented McBain with a long document that included copies of Coleman's Army achievements while he served with the North Carolina-based 82nd Airborne Division from 2003 to 2006. It also included supportive letters from family members and Coleman's pastor and employer.
The letters lauded Coleman as a humble, quiet man of character.
Bates said the court did not have to limit its consideration to what she called Coleman's ....disingenuous recitation of the facts.''
Said McBain: ....There are few things as defenseless in the world as an infant child,'' McBain said.
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