Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) employees offered rebuttal when a Bullhead City man minimized his involvement in the abuse of his eight week-old daughter last November. Defense attorney Kenneth Beane said 23-year-old Dalton Milne suffered a momentary loss of self control.
“I’m sorry this happened. I kind of lost control,” Milne told Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle, during a May 25 sentencing hearing.
DCS victim liaison Sharon Oliva countered that the abuse was not momentary and that the baby girl was harmed over the course of time. Oliva said the victim had bruises on her face that ranged in color from yellow to dark red and purple, representing varying stages of healing and indicators that the injuries were inflicted on different days.
“She was also thrown across a room and into a chair,” Oliva said. She said the girl exhibited what appeared to be a bite mark on her jaw and suffered hemorrhages and seizures consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
DCS prosecutorial liaison Duncan Rose told the Court that Milne looked up shaken baby syndrome on his cell phone after the abuse, but that he did not seek medical attention for his daughter before others intervened. Rose said DCS was requesting the maximum punishment possible for Milne.
“This baby was powerless to protect herself, Oliva said. “We need to send that message that child abuse is wrong.”
Judge Carlisle referenced the pre-sentence report that stated that Milne said he acted out of frustration because his daughter would not stop crying. “There is never a reason to harm a child in that fashion,” Carlisle said.
Carlisle ordered a seven year prison sentence, the most possible under terms of the plea agreement convicting him of child abuse.
Oliva said the victim is still in state care and that Milne’s paternal rights have been severed. She said the girl is getting better, but that she might suffer from the abuse the rest of her life.
