Dad gets "full custody" despite 86 IQ, mental problems, and meth addiction; are we surprised he beat his son to death? (Anderson, South Carolina)

This new article on custodial dad JAMES DICKERSON JR., who had admitted beating his 7-year-old son to death with a mop handle, adds even more disturbing details. Pay careful attention to what the defense psychiatrist testifies to below. For the sake of argument, I'll assume that this testimony is true. This father has an 86 IQ, mental problems stemming from a 1986 automobile accident, and a meth addiction?

If all this is true, then what idiot judge(s) granted this father "full custody" of his two sons in 2006? What "court whores" supported this decision? How the hell can they justify this now?

Remember this case next time some whiny @$$ starts complaining how dads can never get custody and how "discriminated against" they are in court.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/22740573/detail.html

Guilty: Dad Beat Boy To Death With Mop Handle
Autopsy: Beating Continued After Child Was Dead
POSTED: 12:03 pm EST March 4, 2010
UPDATED: 4:23 am EST March 5, 2010

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. -- A father admitted Thursday to beating his 7-year-old son to death with a mop handle in an attack the judge called the worst he had ever seen. James Dickerson Jr. pleaded guilty to homicide by child abuse and was sentenced to life in prison.

Dickerson beat his son, Jeremy, to death in October 2008.

The beating happened at the home West Church Road off Highway 88 where Dickerson lived with his sons, Jeremy and 5-year-old Justin.

EMS found the 7-year-old dead in his father's bedroom.

Investigators said that Dickerson had also hit his younger son with the mop handle, but he was not seriously injured.

Prior to the plea being entered Thursday, the assistant solicitor recapped the case. The report said that Jeremy was beaten badly from head to toe and his injuries were consistent with being hit by a car going 35 mph, according to a coroner.

The report quoted Dickerson saying: "When he broke the toy, I grabbed a yellow mop handle. He knew I would pop his hiney and make it bright red and shiny … I was holding the handle with both hands and I swung it kind of like a baseball bat. I know I hit him on the back halfway up. I hit him 13 or 14 times on his legs, but one time on his back. When I hit him on the back, I knew I did too hard. I knew I bent the handle a little."

The autopsy found that beating continued after Jeremy was dead.

The defense psychiatrist said Dickerson has an IQ of 86 and that he has mental problems from a brain injury he received in a 1989 car accident, and also from being a meth addict.

Judge Cordell Maddox said, "This is the most heinous thing I have seen on the bench."

The pictures disturbed the judge so badly he ordered that the autopsy photographs be sealed.

Dickerson was sentenced to life in prison.