Jury acquits dad for abusing infant, even though dad confessed (Hartford, Connecticut)

WHAT???

A jury has acquitted dad LEONARD RAMIREZ of abusing his infant son, even though Daddy has admitted that he "made up" a lot of stories to explain the baby's injuries, and even confessed to breaking the baby's ribs at one point. Note that Daddy didn't even live with the baby's mother. So was this baby injured during some sort of visitation? It's not clarified here.

So now we're told it's a big mystery as to how this baby got hurt. Maybe it was another one of those "masked intruder" scenarios. Guys with AK-47s breaking into the house. But then Daddy developed amnesia! Um yea, that's the ticket.

Just what was the average IQ of this jury? Around room temperature?

http://www.ctnow.com/news/hc-hartford-beaten-baby-death-0331,0,7802355.story

Jury Acquits Father; Baby's Injuries Still Unexplained
The Hartford Courant

4:43 p.m. EDT, March 31, 2010

HARTFORD - A jury has acquitted a 22-year-old Hartford father of charges that he fractured his baby's ribs, even though he had said he caused the injuries.

Leonard Ramirez testified that he had made up most of the stories about what happened to his son, and the jury believed him, finding him not guilty of two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor. The verdict was announced in Superior Court shortly before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"I just want everybody to know that I would never hurt my son, and I thank the jury for seeing that," Ramirez said later in a phone interview.

In October 2008, when hospital workers discovered his 10-week-old baby was seriously injured, Ramirez told police and an employee from the state Department of Children and Families that he may have caused them. He told them that what had appeared to be a skull fracture may have been from when he dropped the baby while getting him a bottle. He said the baby's head hit a counter and "bounced" back up to him, according to the police report and testimony from the trial, which started March 25.

Ramirez also described how he had roughly grabbed the baby on two occasions and how once, the baby was moving around and slammed his head into Ramirez's shoulder.

In the end, the baby had more than 10 rib fractures and a torn frenum, which is the skin connecting the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. The baby did not have a fractured skull as originally suspected.

On the witness stand, Ramirez said everything but the last incident was a lie. He made up the stories because the police had told him that if he took the blame for the injuries, DCF wouldn't take the baby away from the mother, who didn't live with Ramirez.

Ramirez said he had had a bad experience living in foster care and didn't want the same for his son, who has since recovered from his injuries.

Other witnesses, including the mother, Jessica Vasquez, testified that Ramirez was excited to become a father and was "meticulous" when caring for the baby.

The verdict leaves a nagging question: Who fractured the baby's ribs?

Neither Ramirez nor his lawyer, Teri Bayer, knows, they said.

"Honestly, we asked everybody," Ramirez said. "We asked anybody and everybody."