"Caretaking" dad pleads "not guilty" to bashing the head of his three-month-old son (Lakemoor, Illinois)

"Caretaking" father JEREMY LEGEAI has pleaded "not guilty" to aggravated battery to a child--despite the fact that he had already told the police that he put his three-month-old son down on the couch and hit him hard on the head when he "wouldn't stop crying." (Babies cry, hard as that may be to believe. But a lot of dads can't seem to deal with crying babies. Sets them off.) But then Dad is looking 6 - 30 years if convicted, so why not plead "not guilty? Legeai was presumably staying home and watching his son while the mother was at work. The result of this "reverse role arrangement" is that a poor innocent child now has severe head trauma.

Lakemoor dad denies striking infant son
By Tony Gordon Daily Herald Staff

Published: 6/24/2009 3:59 PM


A Lakemoor man charged with striking his 3-month-old son so hard on May 20 that the infant remains hospitalized pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Lake County Circuit Court.

Jeremy Legeai, 27, faces a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years if convicted of aggravated battery to a child.

Assistant State's Attorney James Newman said officials at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital near Barrington called police when Legeai and his wife brought their son Austin to the emergency room.

The infant was suffering from severe head trauma, and was transferred by helicopter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where Newman said he is still being cared for.

Police said Legeai initially told them he had accidentally bumped the child's head on a door when he was feeding him.

However, police said Legeai eventually admitted he put the child down on a couch and hit him hard on the side of the head when he would not stop crying.

Police said Legeai told them the child cried for another minute before slumping over and going limp.

Legeai then called the infant's mother at work, who came home, and both adults took Austin to the hospital.

Circuit Judge John Phillips scheduled a trial of the case for July 20 and ordered Legeai, who is held on $500,000 bond, to appear in court July 8.