In jailhouse phone call, dad admits he fractured the skull of 21-day-old son (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Dad MICHAEL ANTHONY DOUGLAS is currently on trial for abusing his infant son so badly that the baby's skull was fractured.

Seems Dad confessed to the crime in a jailhouse phone call to his father. It's the usual story. Poor daddy got "frustrated," so he popped the crying newborn in the head and then delayed any medical care till the next day because the little darling was "scared." (Personal fear for your own @$$ overrides concern for baby's well being. Got it.)

Note that despite all the sentimental claptrap about how he really "loves" the baby and the baby's mother and how he wants Mom's "forgiveness", he resists giving the mother any money or the use of his car while he's in jail until his father pressures him to do so.

Oh, and also note how Dad is so glad when he hears the baby is off the respirator. Why? Because he's losing sleep worrying about the baby? Nah. Get real. It's a useful development because it "would probably help him with his criminal charges." Oooohh. I see.

Basically this is off the scale for the Dastardly Bullsh** meter. Dad wants to apologize? He's sorry? You're just sorry your @$$ was caught, dude.

http://www.gazette.com/articles/listened-92009-hard-dad.html

Dad admits hitting infant, asks for forgiveness

January 08, 2010 2:43 PM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
THE GAZETTE

A jury Friday listened to a tape recording of an emotional conversation during which a Colorado Springs man told his father that he hit his 21-day-old son so hard that he fractured the child’s skull.

“I don’t understand why I did it. It just happened,” Michael Anthony Douglas told his father in one of several tape-recorded telephone calls the son made from the El Paso County jail that were played for the jury.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” asked the father, Douglas Douglas, referring to his son’s failure to report the incident until the child was rushed in critical condition to Penrose Hospital the next day.

“I was scared,” the son replied.

The tapes were played in 4th Judicial District Court where Michael Douglas, 25, is on trial on charges of first-degree attempted murder and child abuse.

According to police, Douglas hit his infant son at an apartment at 1020 S. Chelton Road on Oct. 10, 2007, when the boy would not stop crying.

The boy suffered severe bleeding in the brain, but survived.

In the days following the arrest, Douglas made a series of collect calls from the jail to his father.

In the calls, the father urges the son to turn over his paycheck and car to the boy’s mother, Crystal Denton. After initially resisting, he agreed to do so.

The father tells his son that the boy is doing better and has been taken off a respirator. Michael Douglas said he was happy to hear that and said it would probably help with the criminal charges against him.

He also asked his dad to let Denton know that he loves her and wants her forgiveness.

“I still love her with all my heart and I still love (him) with all my heart.”

He also talks about asking her to intervene on his behalf.

“At least ask her if she could do something about my sentencing because I know she has part of the say-so,” he said.

The trial resumes Monday.