Custodial dad to serve 20 years for murder of 7-month-old daughter (Roanoke, Virginia)

Insanity. That's what it is when young clueless, testosterone-fueled dudes like CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS are given custody of an infant. He was still living at home (i.e. not financially independent) and didn't support his girlfriend/ex-girlfriend during her pregnancy in any way, shape, or form (apparently didn't even KNOW about the pregnancy, which SHOULD tell you something about either his character and/or the situation). Obviously, there was NO marital commitment or personal commitment of any kind to the child or the mother.

The girlfriend, who was probably very young as well, realized she couldn't care for a baby adequately and tried to find another home for the baby. That's when Daddy swoops in.

The courts SHOULD have realized that this dude was no better prepared than she was, and probably worse, given that young men--as a general rule--are not tempermentally inclined towards the demands of infant care. (Notice how one of Daddy's buddies punched the courthouse wall after the trial. This is how many young men when "provoked" tend to act.) But no. Thanks to fathers rights and "equal parenting" ideology, young dudes like this are given infant custody. And then they end of maiming or killing the baby with clueless bull**** like throwing them around like footballs at a frat party. Why are we perpetually surprised? 

Periodically, I remind Dastardly readers that virtually every study of shaken baby deaths (now more frequently referred to as abusive head trauma) shows that fathers dominate as perpetrators, followed by boyfriends and stepdads (e.g. other male caretakers). Don't believe me? Search under "statistics" at this site. Or under "shaken baby."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/303976

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Dad to serve 20 years in infant's death

Christopher Saunders told an investigator that the child slipped through his grasp after he tossed her in the air.

By Neil Harvey

Friends and family members were vocal in their dismay Wednesday afternoon in Roanoke Circuit Court as a young father was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the death of his infant daughter.

Christopher Lloyd Saunders, 21, who in October pleaded no contest to felony homicide in the death of 7-month-old Arieya Michelle Lindsey, shook his head slowly as Judge Charlie Dorsey found him guilty and gave him 40 years, the maximum allowed, to be suspended after he serves half that. Upon his release, he'll be on supervised probation for 10 years and will be restricted from contact with anyone younger than 18 during that time.

As part of Saunders' plea agreement, prosecutors did not pursue an additional charge of felony child abuse.

Saunders' mother wept openly as he was led from the courtroom.

"Love you, boy," spectators called from the gallery. "Love you, Chris."

One of Saunders' acquaintances punched a courthouse wall and cursed the ruling as he left the building.

The homicide charge against Saunders stemmed from an incident in July 2009, when an emergency crew was summoned to Saunders' parents' Roanoke County home. There, they found Arieya on a bedroom floor, no longer breathing.

Prosecutors in October 2011 said Saunders' statements to doctors and detectives afterward had varied, but he eventually told an investigator he had tossed the child in the air and she had slipped through his grasp and fallen to the floor.

Saunders also told the detective he slightly shook the baby, but prosecutors said a hospital physician found that Arieya had suffered extensive bilateral retinal damage that indicated she had been violently shaken. A medical examiner's report concluded that "this child was subjected to repeated abuse."

Just three months before Arieya's death, in May 2009, emergency crews had been called to aid the child after she reportedly fell out of bed. She was treated for three broken ribs and a bruised torso, which Saunders said had been caused when he performed CPR.

At the October plea hearing, Saunders' lawyer, public defender Anna Bagwell, argued that Saunders' statements to medical staff and police were consistent with his daughter's injuries.

"Arieya was by all accounts well-nourished and cared for," Bagwell said.

Saunders met Arieya's mother in 2008, when they both worked at Kmart. Contact between them dwindled after their brief romantic relationship ended, prosecutors said, and Saunders didn't know of his daughter's existence until after she was born, when Arieya's mother gave the child to foster care. When Saunders learned about the girl, he opted to raise her himself, according to prosecution and defense accounts.