Dad on trial for shaking baby; child will be on permanent life support (Cincinnati, Ohio)

I'm not sure if I want to get into a general quality of life debate with Dastardly readers, but I wonder if some things aren't worse that dying outright. Having your brains "turned to mush" and being on life-long life support must be one of them--or at least come pretty damn close.

Dad RICKY EDWARDS is currently on trial for beating or shaking his then 3-month-old son so severely that he essentially destroyed the baby's brain functions. The child can't see, he can't breathe on his own, he can't walk. And he'll never develop. He'll be in a hospital on life support until he dies.

If found guilty, the MAXIMUM prison sentence the father will get is 16 years. What a travesty.

Dad was not supposed to be alone with this child by order of Jobs and Family Services (JFS) workers, but he managed to get "alone time" with the baby anyway. Seems he was pissed off because he thought the baby was "spoiled" and being "held too much." What an @$$wipe.

This crap is nothing new for Dad. He also abused an infant daughter in 2005, BUT WAS NEVER CHARGED. No explanation as to why. The usual coddling of child abusers?

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100217/NEWS01/2180305/Opening+arguments+made+in+dad+s+trial

Opening arguments made in dad's trial
By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer.com • February 17, 2010

In his first 105 days, Savon Edwards was a normal baby who'd just celebrated his first Christmas.

But on the 106th day, he was beaten or shaken so severely by his father, prosecutors said Wednesday, that the 3-month-old's brain was turned to mush and he was so severely injured that he always will be on life support.

"(Savon's) injuries are lifelong," Assistant Prosecutor Anne Flanagan told a Hamilton County jury Wednesday.

"He cannot see. He cannot breathe on his own. He cannot walk. He cannot develop. His brain has been destroyed."

The jury will decide if Ricky Edwards is guilty of child endangering and felonious assault, charges carrying a maximum prison sentence of 16 years.

Edwards' attorney, Bryan Perkins, admitted the child was severely injured and never will change, but said prosecutors must prove that Edwards was the one who caused the injuries. That will be tough, he said, because the infant's body showed no external signs of abuse.

"There was no evidence ... of any traumatic injury," Perkins told jurors.

That's normal, Flanagan said, in Shaken Baby Syndrome where the body part injured is the brain.

"His head was swollen. His brain was full of blood," she said.

Edwards, 31, was in his Corryville home where, despite orders from Jobs and Family Services workers to never be alone with his child, he was alone with Savon just after midnight Dec. 26, 2008, according to court records. He shook the baby, Flanagan said, after previously telling others they were babying the infant.

"He said the baby was spoiled," Flanagan said. "He said they hold him too much. ... He lost his temper with (Savon) that day."

The infant, since the injury, has been confined to hospitals and cannot live without the help of life support.

"He never ever will live the life that he deserved to live," Flanagan said.

Edwards also was deemed abusive by JFS workers in a 2005 incident involving his infant daughter but wasn't charged with a crime. Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Myers was unsure if she would allow jurors to hear that evidence.

The case could be resolved by the end of the week.