Mom Pleads Guilty in Baby-swinging Case

A 27 year old woman chose an unusual object to use as a weapon during a fight with her boyfriend. She has pleaded guilty Tuesday to using her 4-week-old son like a bat and swinging him at her boyfriend.

During the fight she picked up her infant son by his feet and proceeded to swing him like a bat to hit her boyfriend. The infant's skull was fractured in the process.

Chytoria Graham pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child under a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Graham acknowledged that on Oct.8 she had grabbed her son Jarron by his feet and swung him, hitting her boyfriend and seriously injuring the infant.

Paramedic Betty Schau, who treated the baby, spoke at Graham's preliminary hearing in December. She recalled that Graham was crying and disheveled when medical crews arrived. She testified that Graham told her, "I swung him. I swung him like a bat."

Graham is to have a psychological examination which the judge ordered done before her sentencing, set for May 8. The aggravated assault charge carries a minimum of five years in prison due to the fact that the child was under the age of 13. According to prosecutor Beth Hirz, the maximum sentence is 20 years. The maximum sentence for endangering the welfare of a child is five years. Two lesser charges against Graham were dropped.

Skull fractures result from direct impact to the calvarium and are important because of their association with intracranial injury. Intracranial injury is the leading cause of traumatic death in childhood. It is estimated that every year 600,000 children visit the emergency departments in the United States for blunt head trauma. There is a wide array of reasons for these head traumas though. Approximately 95,000 out of 600,000 have intracranial injuries. With about 5,700 of these patients dying as a result of those injuries. The chances of permanent damage and even death occurring is increased when associated extracranial injuries are present.

Graham's previous attorney in this case had said that Graham did not use her child as a weapon and that Graham had lied to authorities about how the injuries occurred to protect her boyfriend.

Graham's current attorney, public defender Julia Dudics, said Tuesday that the choice to plead guilty was Graham's.

Jarron has made a full recovery and now resides with his four other siblings at Graham's parents' home.

Sources:

Daily Comet:
http://www.dailycomet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070306/APA/703062493

Associated Press:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_re_us/baby_as_weapon_7

Up To Date:
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