Dad found guilty of severely beating 5-month-old daughter (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Dad RONALD PAUL GLEIM has been found guilty of aggravated assault in the beating of his 5-month-old daughter. Thank goodness he has been banned from ever having contact with any of his children.

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Father found guilty of assaulting infant
Ronald Gleim faces a minimum 5-year sentence

Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Updated Sep 13, 2011 21:44

By BRETT HAMBRIGHT
Staff Writer

A convicted child abuser is behind bars after a local jury found that he severely beat his baby daughter last year in Lancaster city.

The baby girl, who was five months old, sustained head trauma after a beating last June inside a St. Joseph Street home. The girl also was beaten over a period of time prior to that, police reported.

On Monday afternoon, a jury decided that Ronald Paul Gleim was responsible.

Gleim, now 27, was convicted of aggravated assault on a child and reckless endangerment.

He'll be sentenced after a background check is completed in about three months. He faces a mandatory 5-year prison sentence; the charges carry a maximum sentence of more than 20 years.

Gleim was ordered to have no contact with the victim or his two other young children. All three are under age 5 and live with their mother.

Gleim — listed at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds — beat his baby girl on June 26, 2010, until she became unconscious, according to police.

Gleim told police he "thought that (the baby) was dead," an affidavit shows.

The girl "neurologically crashed," Assistant District Attorney Randall L. Miller said.

Still, Gleim told police, he waited about six or seven minutes to call 911 after the baby also turned bright red, according to the affidavit.

The baby spent five days under emergency care at Hershey Medical Center.

City police Detective Aaron Harnish filed charges after Gleim admitted that he "may have" injured the child.

County Judge Howard Knisely, who presided over trial, will sentence Gleim at a later date.

Immediately after the guilty verdicts, Knisely ordered Gleim to Lancaster County Prison on $500,000 bail.

"This was an important case," Miller said. "He can't be near children."

Gleim didn't react to the verdicts, which were announced after about an hour of jury deliberations.

Lesley Ayers, the child's mother, testified for the prosecution and was present for the verdicts.

"This all didn't have to happen; my daughter didn't deserve to go through what she (did)," Ayers said later Tuesday. "Now my children have to grow up without a father. But something had to be done."

At trial, several doctors provided testimony on when the baby's brain injury could have occurred.

Dr. Mark Dias, a neurologist at Hershey Medical Center, testified that the injury happened on June 26, 2010, when Gleim had sole custody of the child.

Dias found blood on the baby's brain and hemorrhages behind the eyes — both signs of severe trauma.

"I'm just very thankful that Katherine is still with me today," Ayers said, "to be able to enjoy life and to grow up with her brothers."

Two defense witnesses testified that the injury could have been inflicted within a broader time frame.

Dias also testified that 15 to 20 percent of infants with traumatic brain injuries die. The survivors usually sustain deficits that become pronounced as they grow older, the doctor said.

Miller credited defense lawyers Paula Burke and Robert Reese for presenting a strong case, while saying the jury "absolutely came to the correct verdict."