Dad with joint custody accused of beating 9-yar-old son (Livonia, Michigan)

So why does a temperamental creep of a father like DAVID BOLTON have joint custody?

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20110703/NEWS10/107030443/Youngster-recounts-beating-dad-gave-soiling-underwear?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CLivonia%7Cs

Youngster recounts the beating dad gave for soiling underwear
Jul 3, 2011
Written by LeAnne Rogers

There is a line between parental discipline and child abuse which a Livonia man is accused of crossing.

David Bolton has been ordered to stand trial on three charges of child abuse and intent to cause great bodily harm for beating his 9-year-old son with a belt and stepping on him, leaving the youngster with bruises and abrasions around his eyes and on his torso.

A preliminary examination was held in Westland 18th District Court Thursday — Livonia District Court judges had recused themselves from hearing the case since the boy's mother works for the court.

The youngster, who just finished third grade, testified that he and his sister divide their time between their divorced parents. On April 7, he said that they went to their father's home after school. On the way home from school, the boy said he accidentally soiled his underwear. He said he changed into clean underwear but didn't know what to do with the soiled underwear, so he placed it in the clothes dryer. Some time later, the boy said his father found the underwear.

“He was really angry, he started hitting me with a belt. He looped the belt so it was like two spankings at once,” the boy testified.

Standing in the corner of the kitchen, the boy said his father hit him more than 10 times with the belt, striking him in the eyebrow and eye area, the chest and thigh.

“He kind of stepped on my back with his shoe and pushed me down, I couldn't breathe very well. He did it again later,” said the boy. “His hands were pressing down on the counter while he pressed with his foot. I kind of blacked out for a few seconds.”

The boy testified that he remembered thinking that he was going to tell his school principal about what happened with his father. Due to the injuries visible on his face, the boy said he was sent to talk to school administration, who called police. The boy subsequently was taken to an urgent care clinic to be examined.

Defense attorney John McLean questioned the youngster, focusing on whether his client had told the boy he would be punished for not completing household chores.

“I knew I was going to be punished when he (Bolton) went for the belt. I was putting dishes into the dishwasher when he hit me with the belt,” the boy testified.,

The boy's sister, 11, became very emotional and cried while giving a similar account of the incident.

“Dad was really mad and started hitting him over and over and didn't stop, he was holding it like a loop,” said the girl. “Dad was stepping on him, on his back. He was bouncing. His hands were on the counter. I think he was using two feet.”

Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Angela Povilaitis agreed that the evidenced presented didn't support one of the charges — child torture — and asked that it be dismissed. She did argue that the other charges — first-degree, second-degree and third-degree child abuse — were warranted.

McLean argued that the seriousness of the charges — the first-degree child abuse carries a 15-year prison sentence — was not supported by the evidence. He noted the medical record showed the youngster suffered only abrasion and contusions — not the serious mental or physical harm required by the statute.

“It may not raise to the level of serious physical harm, but there is no question that a 9-year-old receiving a beating like this at the hands of his father caused mental harm,” said Judge Mark McConnell. “The defendant's behavior can be described as losing it. There is no other intent that can be inferred other than great bodily harm by a full-size adult male.”