Dad batters 15-week-old son to death (Maywood. Illinois)

Dad CHARLES DILWORTH threw a huge hissy fit when he found out that his wife had gone out for the evening and the baby was crying. So sometime during his 20-minute rage he managed to batter the baby to death. Though he might have stepped on him--Dad's not sure. Dad reportedly has a history of mental illness, including a bipolar disorder.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/07/father-gets-35-years-in-death-of-15-week-old-son.html

Father gets 35 years in death of 15-week-old son
July 29, 2009 5:02 PM

A 37-year-old Maywood man was sentenced to 35 years in prison today for killing his 15-week-old infant son in a fit of rage because his wife had gone out for the evening.

Charles Dilworth woke up in the early morning hours of April 29, 2006 because his infant son, Christopher, was crying. He looked around their apartment in the 800 block of 16th Avenue but couldn't find his wife, Crystal Campbell.

He then returned to the bedroom and starting throwing things around the room. During his trial in June he said the baby could have been injured because he accidentally stepped on the child as he got out of bed. But Assistant State's Attorney Attila Bogdan noted that Dilworth told police he had gotten angry and flew into a 20-minute rage during which time he battered his baby.

Dilworth took the stand during the sentencing hearing before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Tucker and said he and his wife had a good life together.

"All I wanted was a child. My life was perfect..." he said before breaking down and sobbing into his hands for several minutes. "Now I don't know which way to turn. I wish I could make this all go away but I can't."

Defense attorney Chris Goodman pleaded with Tucker to give Dilworth the minimum 20-year sentence citing his client's long history of mental health problems and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in 2001. He also noted that Dilworth has no criminal record and prior to the tragedy had never been in trouble with the law.

But Bogdan said Dilworth deserves a 75-year sentence, not leniency, for taking out his frustrations so savagely on his own 15-week-old child.

"In a sense, Christopher had no chance," Bogdan said. "A child murderer deserves no compassion, no understanding, no pity."

Inmates convicted of first-degree murder in Illinois are required to serve 100 percent of their sentence with no credit for good behavior in prison.

-- Victoria Pierce