Dad charged with murder for shaking 7-month-old son (Teller, Alaska)

Dad FRANK "PUNCHY LEE has been charged with murder in the shaking death of his 7-month-old son. Dad has quite the rap sheet, too.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/873204.html

Man charged with murder for shaking 7-month-old son
TELLER: Infant showed signs of trauma when he was flown to hospital.

By JAMES HALPIN
Published: July 22nd, 2009 03:24 PM
Last Modified: July 22nd, 2009 09:42 PM

A Teller man has been arrested on murder charges following a nine-month investigation that concluded he shook his son to death last fall, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Frank "Punchy" Lee, 35, was taken into custody Tuesday on a $100,000 arrest warrant charging him with first- and second-degree murder in the death of the 7-month-old baby.

The child, Harley Dickson, was flown from Teller to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage on Oct. 12, 2008, a day after he was allegedly shaken.

Upon the child's arrival at the hospital, Anchorage police notified troopers that he was exhibiting signs of trauma, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. The boy died at the hospital Oct. 13 after he was removed from life support, Peters said.

"The baby showed classic signs of shaken baby syndrome," Peters said. "It was just a long process of collecting evidence."

A grand jury in Nome indicted Lee on the murder charges July 17.

Specific details on how Lee allegedly caused his son's death were not immediately available.

According to the indictment, Lee "with criminal negligence, inflicted serious physical injury on the child by at least two separate acts, and one of the acts resulted in the death of the child."

Lee remained in custody Wednesday at Anvil Mountain Correctional Center in Nome.

According to court records, Lee has a lengthy criminal history including arrests for numerous assaults, burglaries, thefts and bootlegging.

In 1992, he was charged with first-degree sexual assault and second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Court records indicate he pleaded no contest to the abuse charge and was sentenced to four years in prison. He was charged again with first-degree sexual assault in 2003, but the charge was later dismissed, court records indicate.