Dad pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of 5-month-old son (Gate City, Virginia)

Dad MICHAEL DOUGLAS BARTON has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and child abuse in the death of his 5-month-old son. It appears that Barton suffocated the baby when he put his hand over the baby's mouth to stop him from crying. It seems there are a lot of dads with a very low tolerance for crying infants.

http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9021248

Scott man gets 15 years in infant son's death
By Wes Bunch

Published March 10th, 2010

GATE CITY — A Fort Blackmore man was sentenced to prison Tuesday in Scott County Circuit Court after he pleaded guilty to actions that led to the death of his 5-month-old son.

Michael Douglas Barton, 25, pleaded guilty to reduced charges of manslaughter and child abuse and will spend the next 15 years in a state penitentiary.

Barton received the maximum sentence for both counts — 10 years for the manslaughter charge and five years for the child abuse. Both sentences are without parole and must be served consecutively.

Barton was originally charged with second-degree murder following the March 2009 death of his infant son, Michael Anthony Lee Barton.

At the time, Barton told authorities he had placed his hand over his son’s mouth to stop the child’s crying.

Scott County Commonwealth’s Attorney Marcus McClung said his office reduced the charges following an autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office and a yearlong investigation by the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police.

The autopsy deemed the cause of death undetermined, McClung said, and stated that the way the child died was not “inconsistent with ... SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), unintentional suffocating or smothering.”

In addition to those findings, McClung said evidence gathered in the yearlong investigation concluded “that the infant’s death was not premeditated, was unintended, and committed without malice.”

Michael Anthony’s mother, Shawna Barton, and her family also believed the father did not intentionally kill his infant son, McClung said.

“She and the rest of the family have suffered more than anyone should, and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with them,” McClung said. “The family has told me this was a stupid mistake that Barton has done, and no one in the family believes that this was premeditated or intentional.”

McClung said Barton was still culpable and received the maximum punishment for his convictions because his actions were the main cause of his son’s death.

“Lt. (Chris) Holder (of the SCSO) and the State Police have done another outstanding job in the face of the worst circumstances,” McClung said. “Although they concluded that the death was not premeditated or intended, it is very criminal.”

The investigation into the infant’s death began early in the morning on March 16, 2009, after neighbors spotted Barton running from his Fort Blackmore home and yelling for help.

When authorities arrived at the home, they found the little boy, 5 months old, lying dead on his parents’ bed.

Barton initially told investigators he did not know what could have caused his son’s death but later confessed that he had put his hand over the child’s mouth so he would quit crying and kept it there until he stopped.

After that, Barton said he put a pacifier in his son’s mouth and went back to sleep. When he woke up a short time later, the child was dead.