Dad pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder in death of 7-week-old son (St. Joseph, Missouri)

Dad RONNY RATHMAN has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his 7-week-old son.

We've posted on this case before, and it's an especially disturbing one. See earlier posts here:

http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/12/dad-pleads-not-guilty-to-shaking-2.html
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/11/dad-called-truthful-and-compliant-to.html
http://dastardlydads.blogspot.com/2009/10/dad-charged-with-2nd-degree-murder-in.html

It still seems to me that Dad set up his wife to take the blame for earlier child abuse in the home. Mom was apparently depressed enough to go along with it-- even DSS found her a "very passive parent." DSS also suspected that "someone else who had regular contact" was responsible for the child abuse, not Mom. Doesn't matter, as Mom dutifully pleads guilty and quietly drifts off to jail. As for me, I'm still not entirely convinced that she did anything.

So anyway, Mom's out of the way and behind bars, and DSS leaves the kids with Daddy Dearest. They DO NOT recommend that the children be removed from his care. DSS visits five times, but doesn't find anything amiss. (In fact, they praise him in earlier articles. See posts above.) And, of course, in very short order, all hell breaks loose and Daddy kills the baby.

http://sjnp.net/news/2010/feb/02/rathman-pleads-guilty-murdering-infant-son/

Rathman pleads guilty to murdering Infant son
By R.J. Cooper

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Donald Rathman didn’t have any allies at home during his two months of life.

His father, Ronny Rathman, pleaded guilty Monday in Buchanan County Circuit Court to second-degree murder, admitting to killing Donald on Oct. 8. During the hearing, Mr. Rathman indicated one of Donald’s two older brothers who lived in the home also abused the child.

In addition, Donald’s mother, Angela Rathman, received a five-year sentence last month for abusing Donald in September.

“That’s what I’m dealing with, what my wife has done and what my son has done,” Mr. Rathman told Judge Pat Robb on Monday.

Mr. Rathman, 52, told the court that on Oct. 8, he was caring for three children in his house on South 11th Street.

Mr. Rathman testified the older boys were fighting and he tried to intervene, while holding Donald, who was crying. When Donald wouldn’t stop crying, Mr. Rathman said he struck the infant twice in the back of the head. As a result, the baby slipped out of his arm, hit a chair and then fell onto an end table.

“I was trying to get him to stop (crying),” Mr. Rathman said. “My arm just let go, and he fell out.”

Mr. Rathman said the baby wasn’t responsive, so he rushed the child to Heartland Regional Medical Center, where Donald died. He was 7 weeks old.

County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said Donald had bruising in both ears, two black eyes, bruising to his forehead, a fracture to the top of his skull and epidural and subdural hemorrhaging in his brain.

Mr. Rathman blamed the black eyes and some of the other bruising on one of the older boys.

Court testimony indicated that the child has mental issues and acts out aggressively.

In the DSS files, two people whom DSS interviewed expressed surprise that Ms. Rathman admitted to the abuse, indicating she was a very passive parent. The two people speculated someone else with regular contact with the child caused some of the abuse.

Ms. Rathman pleaded guilty to the abuse in December. The 36-year-old St. Joseph woman said she dug her fingernails into the newborn’s legs on Sept. 4. The incident also resulted in bruising under Donald’s ribs.

DSS’s Children’s Division did not recommend Donald be removed from the home and left the child under Mr. Rathman’s care. In between Sept. 4 and Oct. 8, a DSS representative visited the Rathman house five times — Sept. 8, Sept. 17, Sept. 28, Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, the day Donald died.

On Monday, Mr. Rathman told the court he “felt bad” after learning his son died. Mr. Rathman admitted to being nervous at the beginning of his hearing but kept an even tone and calm demeanor throughout. That contrasted his wife’s behavior. Ms. Rathman wiped away tears at her plea hearing and sobbed at her sentencing.

DSS placed the other two children in protective custody after Donald died. According to Mr. Scroggins, there aren’t any pending charges against the other children in juvenile court.

“As far as I’m concerned, no one ever gave any credibility to any claim the baby was injured by anyone other than the two adults,” Mr. Scroggins told the News-Press

Mr. Robb will sentence Mr. Rathman on March 15. The range of punishment is from 10 to 30 years or life in prison.