Dad pleads guilty to assaulting son and daughter; gets probation, anger management, and parenting classes (Mobile, Alabama)

The assistant DA blames the light sentence on the fact that the mother refused to testify.

In reality, victims of DV have very good reasons not to testify. These dudes tend to get light sentences regardless, but if you testify, they are pissed. Notice that he beat Mom too.

Besides, it's all crap. If testimony was necessary, then murder victims would never get justice since they can't testify pretty much by definition.

Dad is identified as EMMANUEL GATES.

http://blog.al.com/live/2014/02/father_of_two_pleads_guilty_tw.html

Father of two pleads guilty to assaulting son and daughter

By Michael Dumas on February 18, 2014 at 2:23 PM, updated February 18, 2014 at 2:25 PM

MOBILE, Alabama – A Whistler man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to misdemeanor assault related to injuries he gave his two children around New Year’s Eve 2013.

Emmanuel Gales, 30, was in District Court Judge Jay York’s courtroom and originally faced two counts of child abuse and one count of third-degree domestic violence before accepting a plea deal with prosecutors. His pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to one year in jail, which was suspended in favor of two years supervised probation, with provisions requiring anger-management training and parenting classes.

Assistant District Attorney Nicki Patterson told Judge York that officers responded to a domestic violence call Gales’ home on Dec. 31 and found his wife and 5-year-old son suffering “busted lips” and his young daughter with “belt marks across her chest.” Gales’ wife also had a black eye and his son a “large bruise to his ribcage that appeared to come from a fist.”

Patterson said the defendant’s wife refused to testify against her husband, which made the misdemeanor charge the best the prosecution could hope for. She said she normally pushes for felony charges when the injured children require treatment for their injuries.