Dad sentenced to 4 years in prison for abusing 4-month-old son (Racine, Wisconsin)

Dad JAMES HOGLE has been sentenced to four hears in prison for abusing his 4-month-old son. The baby suffered skull fractures and brain injuries, bruises, and a broken rib in the attack. Dad admits he shook and threw the baby, but has not been very forthcoming with the details.

http://www.journaltimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_665a4178-39c9-11e0-842f-001cc4c002e0.html

Father who shook infant going to prison

JANINE ANDERSON janine.anderson@journaltimes.com JournalTimes.com
Posted: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 6:33 am

RACINE - The explanation a man has provided for how his 4-month-old son ended up with skull fractures, brain injuries, bruises and a broken rib isn't good enough, said his family and the judge.
Nine months ago, James Hogle, 23, of Racine, shook his son, Aiden, sending the boy to the hospital. He was having seizures, had blood pooling in his brain, and fractures in a bone on the back of his head. He had a rib fracture that was about two weeks old, discovered when they scanned the baby for injuries.

About a week after the boy was brought to the hospital, Hogle told police he shook the child and tossed him onto a couch. He said the boy rolled off, and landed on the floor.

Racine County Circuit Court Judge Gene Gasiorkiewicz said Tuesday he watched Hogle's videotaped confession, and said the demonstration and explanation he gave to law enforcement doesn't account for the boy's injuries.

"No. I tell you face to face, man to man, eyeball to eyeball, that did not happen. That physically did not happen to injure your child," he said.

Aiden was barely 4 months old when he was shaken, said his aunt, Jody Payne, who took Aiden and his brother in after Hogle's arrest.

"He couldn't walk, couldn't crawl, couldn't roll over, couldn't even hold his own bottle," Payne said. "He relied on his father, James. What did Aiden do to deserve this? Was he wet? Was he hungry? Was he interrupting computer time?"

Today, she said, Aiden appears to be developing normally. There are no signs of blindness, and he is learning to walk, holding on to furniture.

"The fact we are not here for murder is nothing short of a miracle," said Aiden's aunt. "If he really loves Aiden, he would confess."

Because Hogle has not provided an explanation that accounts for all the boy's injuries, anyone who had contact with him during the period when the injuries could have taken place cannot be alone with him - including the infant's mother and maternal grandparents, Payne said.

"Normally we are a very forgiving family, but we are not finding ourselves capable of that at this point," she said.

Hogle said if he could go back and change what happened, he would.

"My actions have caused me to miss (Aiden's) early childhood," Hogle said. "Soon he'll be saying his first word, and I'll miss out on that, too. There isn't a day I wish I couldn't go back and change what occurred."

He said Aiden is his first-born son, and that he loves and misses him very much.

"I never meant to hurt him," he said. "I just lost it."

The judge said prison time was needed here, for punishment, and to give Hogle the chance to get help. Hogle will spend the next four years in prison, and another six on extended supervision.