Confessed killer dad asks for "shock probation" for death of 3-month-old daughter (Richmond, Kentucky)

We're told that killer moms get all the breaks, but in reality they are continually resurrected and demonized: Casey Anthony (who was NOT even convicted), Susan Smith, et all. All the names that are very famous.

As for dads, the kid-glove treatment is more typical than not, contrary to stereotype. How many mom convicted of a violent murder would be even CONSIDERED for probation? Exactly. And yet self-confessed killer daddy PAUL FARTHING is asking for exactly that.

http://richmondregister.com/localnews/x1168421885/Man-who-caused-infant-s-death-asks-for-shock-probation

October 7, 2011

Man who caused infant’s death asks for shock probation

By Lorie Love Hailey
Register Editor The Richmond Register Fri Oct 07, 2011, 08:00 AM EDT

RICHMOND — A Berea man who admitted to causing the death of his infant daughter is asking the court to consider granting him shock probation.

Paul Farthing, 32, was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree manslaughter in his daughter’s death. He originally was charged with murder.

Farthing was arrested April 14, 2010, after his 3-month-old baby, Rylee Jean Campbell, died at the University of Kentucky Medical Center from what doctors there said was shaken-baby syndrome. She had been in the care of her father prior to her injuries.

If Farthing had been convicted of murder, he could have faced 20 to 50 years in prison. Second-degree manslaughter is a Class C felony, punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Because second-degree manslaughter is not considered a violent offense, Farthing must serve 15 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He is being held in the Roederer Correctional Complex in La Grange.

Farthing’s attorney, Jim Baechtold, filed a motion for shock probation in September, which was scheduled to be heard Thursday in Madison Circuit Court. The hearing was continued, however, by Senior Judge Julia Adams, who was filling in for Judge Jean Chenault Logue.

In the motion, Baechtold says Farthing did not ask for probation when he was sentenced, “because of the severity of the offense and out of respect to the victim’s family.”

The purpose of shock probation, the attorney wrote, is to shock a first-time felony offender into compliance with the law. Farthing already has served more than 500 days in jail, Baechtold said, which he said is “sufficient time in incarceration to shock him into compliance with the law.”

Rylee’s mother and grandmother told the Register at Farthing’s sentencing that they wish he had received more than 10 years in prison.

“You can say manslaughter, but she was murdered,” said Rylee’s grandmother Jean Williamson after the sentencing. “Rylee was alive for three months, four days and one hour. My goal is to make sure that he does 10 years for the life of a baby that never got to crawl, roll over or sit up.”

At the time, Baechtold described the baby’s death was a “bad accident that rose to the level of recklessness.”

Logue will rule on the motion for shock probation at a later date.

Lorie Love Hailey can be reached at editor@richmondregister.com or 624-6690.