Killer dad cuts plea deal in death of son; despite previous previous history of domestic violence, gets just 13 years in prison (Hamilton County, Ohio)

Killer dad RICKY EDWARDS is getting a very special deal. Because it took his infant son two years to die from the injuries that Daddy inflicted upon him, Daddy won't be charged with murder.

Notice that this piece of crap had a history of prior domestic violence CONVICTIONS. Even social services decided (officially) that Daddy was an unfit parent who should only have supervised contact with the baby. Unofficially, the CPS caseworker let him do whatever he wanted, including BABYSITTING the child. So this tough dude battered the baby bad enough to put him into a vegetative state for two years--before the baby finally passed away.  

And he gets just 13 years in prison for his crimes. There was a Mom in Florida who got a MINIMUM of 15 years for "failing" to STOP a crazy @$$ dad from stabbing the kids--even though she was injured herself.

Double standard much?

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20121009/NEWS0107/310090069/Savon-s-dad-killer-cuts-plea-deal

Savon's dad/killer cuts plea deal

1:39 PM, Oct 9, 2012

Written by Kimball Perry

Three years after he was convicted of shaking his infant son into a living death and two years after the child died, Ricky Edwards admitted his crime Tuesday and will spend 13 years in prison for it.

But because Edwards already was convicted of one crime in the case – before his son, Savon Edwards, died – it took legal maneuvering to complete Tuesday's plea deal.

Savon “essentially became a lifeless, living dead child,” Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Anne Flanagan said.

Savon was 105 days old on Dec. 26, 2008, when his father was babysitting him – even though Ricky Edwards was declared an unfit parent by the Hamilton County Department of Jobs & Family Services because of prior domestic violence convictions.

Ricky Edwards, who often complained Savon was babied by his mother and that she always was holding the infant, violently shook the child that night. That caused “a neurologically devastating experience in his brain,” Flanagan said, with Savon’s doctors predicting the child “never, ever would leave medical care.”

It also kept Savon in a vegetative state for two years. During that time, Ricky Edwards was convicted of child endangering for shaking his son and sent to prison for eight years.

When Savon died Dec. 26, 2010 – two years after he was shaken – Ricky Edwards was indicted for murder, carrying a potential sentence of life in prison.

But the case posed a legal dilemma for both sides.

Because Ricky Edwards already was serving an eight-year prison sentence for child endangering, there were legal concerns about both crimes merging because they came from the same event. If that had happened, Ricky Edwards could have argued he was serving two sentences for what legally was one set of events. Edwards also didn’t want a murder conviction with a potential life sentence.

To address those issues, prosecutors and Edwards’ attorneys – John Keller and Kathy Fallat – crafted a plea deal. Prosecutors dropped the murder charge to eliminate the possibility of a life sentence and Edwards pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He also agreed he’d committed two crimes, child endangering and manslaughter.

Common Pleas Court Judge Beth Myers sentenced him to five years in prison for the manslaughter conviction, but ordered it to run after Edwards completed his eight-year sentence on the child endangering charge. The result in 13 years in prison for Edwards.

Savon’s mother, Tammy Gries, agreed with the sentence after initially supporting Ricky Edwards after his arrest.

“The only place she can she her child is in the cemetery,” Flanagan said.

Savon’s case had other repercussions. Because Ricky Edwards wasn’t supposed to be alone with the child, a JFS caseworker was fired while three others were disciplined and two others quit.