"Stay-at-home" dad sentenced to life term in death of 3-month-old daughter (Seaford, Maryland)

Seems dad JASON GALLOWAY was an unemployed (deadbeat) "stay-at-home" from the time his daughter was six-weeks old to the time he killed her at 3 months. Daddy apparently abused her the entire time, given the evidence of prior injuries....Mom is honestly still trying to believe in reversed gender roles and that Daddy didn't mean to hurt the baby....

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120324/NEWS01/203240310/Seaford-man-sentenced-life-term-infant-daughter-s-death?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Seaford man sentenced to life term in infant daughter's death

His wife asks for leniency in decision

Mar. 24, 2012  

Written by James Fisher
The News Journal

GEORGETOWN -- A Seaford man was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his 3-month-old daughter from what a prosecutor called "horrifically cruel and depraved" abuse.

As he imposed the sentence on Jason Gallaway, Superior Court Judge Richard F. Stokes said the infant, Marissa, "suffered at his hands from the time he took over her care" in her sixth week of life.

Gallaway said nothing as he was led from the courtroom after sentencing. His wife, Heather Gallaway, had implored Stokes for a sentence less harsh than a life term.

"I don't even want to go home now. I have no one," she said in court. "My whole family is gone."

Their daughter died in December 2010, a few days after she had been hospitalized with a skull fracture and bleeding in her brain. Prosecutors contended that Jason Gallaway slammed her head on a hard surface. Gallaway maintained she'd fallen accidentally out of his lap. He said he loved his daughter.

"The prosecutor went out of her way to prove I'm guilty," he told the judge. "But I know I'm not guilty."

Prosecutor Melanie Withers disagreed. Heather Gallaway was a teacher, and her husband cared for their daughter when she returned to work.

"Every day that her mother went to work was another day of pain and torture for this child," Withers told the judge. "There is no doubt that she died in her father's care. She should be growing up. She should have a future ... and he took all that away from her."

Gallaway was arrested Dec. 2, 2010, when he called 911 to report Marissa had stopped breathing. She was rushed to Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, diagnosed with a fractured skull and three bleeds on her brain, then transported to Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Rockland, Del. Gallaway told police he had dropped Marissa on the floor twice -- once that day, once the day before, both times by accident.

Heather Gallaway, in asking for leniency, said her husband is a better person than the court believes.

"I've heard that, basically, my husband didn't have value. Because he didn't have a job. Because he wasn't educated," she said. "But that's not true. He does have value."

Stokes noted that Marissa had fractures in other bones, apparently suffered at least a week before she was hospitalized. Jason Gallaway knew, the judge said, "that his wife would look away no matter how flagrant his treatment became of their daughter."

The sentencing guidelines for first-degree murder by abuse called for 15 years to life in prison. Stokes cited aggravating factors, including a parole violation on an Oregon harassment conviction, as reasons he imposed the toughest possible penalty.

During his trial and after, Stokes said, Gallaway denied responsibility for his daughter's death and seemed not to grieve for her.

"He used the language of remorse, but his words were unconvincing," Stokes said.