Mom seeks felon registry boost, after father of her 1-month-old daughter broke her bones (Topeka, Kansas)

Dad TY BARNETT was a serial child abuser, but the mom didn't know it. Then one day, she heard their 1-month-old daughter scream out in pain. Turns out Dad had deliberately inflicted a full break in the baby's arm. The doctors found other fractures too. With a little investigation, it became clear that Dad had tortured another infant daughter years before; that infant later died after being in a coma. Now Mom wants an official State Registry of people who abuse children.

http://cjonline.com/news/state/2009-10-31/mom_seeks_felon_registry_boost

Mom seeks felon registry boost
By Tim Carpenter
October 31, 2009 - 9:57pm

Kristen Beaudette hung up the telephone in her west Wichita apartment when she heard her 1-month-old daughter's sudden cries of anguish from the next room.

Repercussions of events leading to those tears linger more than six years later and could, Beaudette said, serve as a catalyst for altering state policy on monitoring convicted child abusers.

As Beaudette stepped into Sidney's bedroom on Sept. 24, 2003, her boyfriend, Ty Barnett, who is the child's father, said the baby was upset because she caught her arm in the crib railing.

"He had this deer-in-the-headlight look," Beaudette said. "You could almost tell in his face something wasn't right. I was terrified. I said, 'I'm sure it's OK.' I picked her up, and she quit crying."

Doctors the next day confirmed the girl was injured. She had a full break in her upper right arm, an injury experts later would describe as the likely result of a powerful twisting motion. Physicians also found evidence the infant suffered fractures in her left knee and left wrist. State officials stepped in. Sidney was taken into protective custody, and both parents were put under a microscope.

"I felt like someone had ripped out my heart," Beaudette said.

Offender registry

Investigators' attention turned to Barnett, who previously was sent to prison for torturing his 3-month-old daughter in Salina. Barnett was baby-sitting infant Payton Blick on Jan. 8, 1995, when the child stopped breathing. Doctors found she suffered lighter burns to the head and had numerous broken bones. Payton lingered in a coma before dying. Barnett took a plea bargain. After more than five years in prison, he earned parole in 2001.

In the case involving Sidney two years later, Barnett admitted during police questioning the girl was injured when he grabbed her by the arm rather than in an accident involving the crib railing. He entered a plea of no contest to aggravated battery and returned to state prison. Beaudette regained custody of Sidney when the child was 10 months old. They moved to Topeka to get a fresh start. Both had their names legally changed.

Barnett was granted parole Oct. 23 but must wear a monitoring device for three years while remaining in Reno County.

Beaudette said that wasn't enough.

She said state law should be amended to require people who abuse children to enroll in the offender registry coordinated by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The registry is accessible by computer and chronicles the residence of people convicted of sex offenses, manufacturing drugs and certain violent crimes. Individuals covered by the registry must regularly report to the county sheriff for 10 years.

"I'd love to see it done," Beaudette said. "I'm trying to get justice for my daughter but also for Payton Blick."

State monitoring

Andrea Quill, executive director of the Salina-based Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas, said expansion of the registry to include violent crimes perpetrated against children would be useful.

"I could see the benefit," she said. "That would be an area I would be interested in myself. I do look where the sex offenders are located in my community."

Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said the state registry contributes to the safety of Kansas families. It provides information on the location of some of the most dangerous convicts in the state, he said.

"Inclusion of other crimes in the registry should be considered carefully to ensure that the original intent of the registry is being achieved," Six said.

Steve Kearney, executive director of the Kansas County and District Attorneys Association, said law enforcement officials appreciated offender registries, but there was reason to worry inclusion of more and more classifications of felons could overload the system.

Beaudette said she took a measure of comfort from the knowledge that Barnett was behind bars. She said having an idea where he is living would reduce the anxiety she is certain to feel.

"In court, he just smiled," Beaudette said. "He has no remorse. It's like this is a game for him. How many more kids is the state going to let him torture?"

Victims' fear

Sandy Barnett, executive director of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence in Topeka, said people subjected to domestic violence often experience a heightened anticipation of renewed victimization. She is no relation to Ty Barnett.

"I don't think most of us can understand what it's like to live with that fear," she said.

It is not surprising, the coalition director said, for these people to look to the legal system for protection.

Adjusting the state registry to include more offenders is one option, she said. A problem is such a low percentage of criminals are logged in the registry now that such listings might offer a false sense of security, Sandy Barnett said. An alternative would be to alter state law to reduce opportunities for prosecutors to enter into plea bargains with defendants in domestic abuse cases, she said.

"There are so many times that the system doesn't work," she said. "There are times when I think, let's get rid of all this discretion."

She said cycling child abusers through prison had consequences for victims.

"This fear is not paranoia," Sandy Barnett said. "It's quite profound. It's overwhelming to think about how we stop this kind of predator."

Children silenced

Michael Petit, president and founder of the Every Child Matters Educational Fund in Washington, D.C., said Ty Barnett went against the norm by harming his own biological children. Abusers are 50 times more likely to assault unrelated children, he said. Still, child abusers are likely to repeat the behavior.

"It's not unusual for these fellows to go from one household to another where there are vulnerable women," Petit said. "A very large number of children are killed in the United States at the hands of family members."

He said a new study by Every Child Matters, "We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America," offers evidence the federal government undercounts deaths from child abuse and neglect. The official tally of 10,440 from 2001 to 2007 may fall short by 50 percent, he said. There could have been 15,000 avoidable child deaths during that period, he said.

"Ten thousand is a bad number," Petit said. "Fifteen thousand is worse. Overall record keeping leaves something to be desired."

Federal reports indicated Kansas documented 42 child fatalities from abuse and neglect over the seven-year period, including 10 in 2007.

He said signs of abuse or neglect could be missed in death investigations. For example, he said, a 2-year-old child struck and killed by a vehicle in the street is classified as a pedestrian death in most states even if an adult lost track of the child while abusing illegal drugs. Closer scrutiny of the facts could make it a criminal case of neglect, he said.

Not over

Beaudette said she believes Ty Barnett has yet to overcome demons that drove him to hurt Sidney and Payton. She can imagine Ty Barnett hooking up with a woman as naive and trusting as she was at one time.

Ty Barnett had told Beaudette on their second date he had been in prison on false charges.

"I remember giving him a hug and saying: 'It's OK. It's in the past.' I ignored red flag No. 1."

While pregnant with Sidney, Beaudette's sisters sent her documents related to the Salina case against Ty Barnett. She was alarmed at allegations he was culpable for a child's broken bones and burned flesh. She said Ty Barnett assured her it was a miscarriage of justice. Revelations that he later harmed their own daughter were difficult to comprehend, she said.

"The guy was a charmer," she said. "Ty was a big teddy bear who brought me flowers and ice cream. Who was this monster they were talking about?"

She said officials at the Kansas Department of Corrections told her Ty Barnett wrote in a journal about a desire to reunite with Sidney.

"The fact that my daughter is still in his thought pattern is really scary," she said.