"Stressed" dad pleads guilty to crushing 8-month-old son to death (Anderson, South Carolina)

Poor mom was saddled with a deadbeat loser, and now she has lost custody of her remaining child thanks to Daddy's crimes. This is typical of the way that mothers are punished for the deeds of men. That the mother is not charged with anything that I can tell is irrelevant to the authorities.  

Dad is identified as CHRISTOPHER FOSTER.

http://www.independentmail.com/news/father-pleads-guilty-in-death-of-child_85443626

Father pleads guilty in death of child

By: Mike Ellis Posted: 3:37 PM, Oct 2, 2014 Updated: 2 mins ago

Christopher Foster admitted to crushing his 8-month-old son to death in a moment of stress and frustration.

He was sentenced to 15 years after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and child neglect charges Thursday.

Foster told investigators shortly after his son died, on June 8, 2012, that he had been feeding Leon Davis Foster and the child became wedged in a chair. Foster showed little emotion in a pair of interviews right after and two days after his son’s death, Assistant Solicitor Catherine Huey said.

Eight months after Leon died, however, Foster teared up in a follow-up interview.

“He confessed and said the child would not stop crying so he held the child to his chest until the child stopped breathing,” Huey said.

Foster held Leon in a way that the infant could not breathe, she said.

Foster’s wife had gone to get a bouncy chair from her in-law’s home and when she came back, she called 911. Leon was pronounced dead at AnMed Health Medical Center.

A forensic pathologist determined at the time that the death was an accident. The same pathologist, Dr. Brett Woodard, later ruled the death a homicide in light of Foster’s confession.

Huey said both an accident and an intentional act had the same medical signs.

Defense attorney Jennifer Johnson said Foster had several mental issues as well as extensive financial and family problems that contributed to his frustration.

“It was a terrible, horrible thing that he did,” Johnson said. “I know he wishes every day he could take it back.”

Foster enlisted in the Navy after graduating from T.L. Hanna High School and married his high school sweetheart, who soon became diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Johnson said. Foster also had his own mental health issues in the military after having a breakdown due to family and job pressures, she said.

“It was too much too soon,” Johnson said. “He made a choice in what I will call a moment of panic.” Foster and his family were living in a room of a home on Edgefield Drive, with 13 people in the small house belonging to his wife’s parents.

Foster also had bounced from job to job, losing work twice after wrecking cars and being underemployed at other jobs. He was not involved in drugs or alcohol, Johnson said.

Judge Brooks Goldsmith rejected Johnson’s request of a 5-year sentence with probation and he went with the prosecution’s recommendation of a 15-+year sentence.

Foster and his wife have an older child, who has been placed in foster care. Foster was originally charged with homicide by child abuse.

Foster made few signs of emotion during the court hearing and told Goldsmith that the stress and mental health issues got to him.

“It should not have happened,” Foster said. “I should never have ended my (mental health) treatment. I feel guilt and burden for an accident that I can never live down and I think about it every day.”