Dad with unsupervised visitation shakes 4-month-old son; child now has permanent blindness (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Dad MICHAEL MICHAELIS in on trial for shaking his 4-month-old son so violently that the child is permanently blind. An eye specialist says its the worst retina damage she's ever seen--worse than a car accident. The boy will also require a shunt in his head for life. Dad had unsupervised visitation, and it was during some of these visits that Dad "played too rough" with the baby.

And tell me why again that babies need visitation? They don't. They need consistent, loving, and competent care. Visitation can come later.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/month-59626-old-rest.html

Trial under way in 4-month-old's injuries
August 04, 2009 4:32 PM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
THE GAZETTE

Michael Michaelis shook his 4-month-old son so violently that the boy will be blind for the rest of his life, prosecutors said today at the start of the Colorado Springs man’s trial on a felony child abuse charge.

But attorneys for Michaelis said investigators stopped looking for answers to what happened to the boy when they mistook a father’s anxiety and self-doubt for a confession.

The charge stems from injuries Jacksun Michaelis Wesson suffered in May 2008. His mother took the youngster to the hospital twice after he began vomiting persistently. Doctors took a closer look after day care officials reported the youngster was unable to track things with his eyes.

Despite some complex medical testimony, the case is a simple one, Deputy District Attorney Joe LeDonne told the jury. He said the injuries were the result of the father shaking the boy in a car seat on two occasions during a pair of unsupervised visits. He said Michaelis admitted to shaking his son.

“This is a case about anger … about frustration … about resentment,” LeDonne said in his opening argument. He said the resentment, “was about having a child with a woman who you don’t love and that child is a constant reminder of that.”

LeDonne said the boy’s injuries — which required a shunt in his head that will be there for life — are not consistent with an accident. He said one eye specialist will testify that the boy’s detached retinas were the worst damage she had ever seen, worse than youngsters who were in vehicle crashes.

Deputy Public Defender Kelly Moss said it’s a case about two loving parents who are still looking for answers to what happened to their child.

“This is a child that has suffered some sort of trauma and nobody has any idea how,” she told the jurors.

When Michaelis wondered out loud if maybe he had played too rough with the boy, she said, “the detective perks up. That’s all that I need.” Moss said the investigator told hospital officials they didn’t need to do further testing.

“The dad’s just confessed. He shook the baby,” she said.

“That’s when they stopped trying to solve the case and they started trying to build a case,” she said.

The trial is expected to take about one week.