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BISBEE — A Sierra Vista man who was accused of helping his girlfriend deliver their baby into a toilet and then neglecting to take the child for medical care was sentenced Monday to 3 1/2 years in prison.
The class 3 felony child abuse conviction against Charles Spencer Smith, 40, could have brought an aggravated 7-year prison term — the sentence recommended by the Cochise County Adult Probation Department and seconded by Deputy Cochise County Attorney Gerald Till.
However, Judge Charles Irwin of Cochise County Superior Court ruled that there was no supporting reason to impose an aggravated sentence and instead gave Smith, who had no prior felony convictions, the presumptive term.
Prior to the judge’s ruling, Smith told Irwin that he was “truly sorry for the fact that (he) missed the opportunity to be proactive with (his son’s) health care.”
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“I wish I had done better by him — and by everybody else,” said Smith, who also could have been sentenced to probation.
But Irwin said he was not convinced that the apology was sincere, and pointed to a police interview in January in which Smith apparently joked about taking his son someplace to get registered, much like he might register a new car.
“I think that shows the true reckless indifference you felt toward this infant,” Irwin said.
Smith pleaded guilty in June to the child abuse charge as part of a plea deal with the state that saw additional kidnapping, assault and drug charges against him dropped.
According to a pre-sentence report from the Adult Probation Department, Smith was arrested in January after a woman told police that he had held her against her will for several months at her home in Sierra Vista.
The woman said that she had allowed Smith and another woman, Lisa Grote, to move into the residence during the summer of 2006 to help pay for the rent, and that she soon became involved in a sexual relationship with Smith.
The woman said that Smith brought other women to the home and had sexual relationships with them as well, referring to them as his “wives.” She said he became abusive and controlling with her and the others, and that he installed a surveillance system and kept firearms in the residence.
Another women who stayed at the home was interviewed separately and corroborated much of the story, including alleged methamphetamine use by Smith, the pre-sentence report states.
Smith, however, denied abusing any of the women or prohibiting them from leaving the home. He also denied ever having used any narcotics other than marijuana.
Irwin said he did not take any of the additional allegations into account in determining Smith’s sentence.
When the Sierra Vista police went to the residence on Jan. 3 to arrest Smith, they reportedly found Grote and a fourth woman, Rebekah Rodriguez, along with a two-month-old infant. The women told the officers that the child had been born in the home and had never received medical care.
According to the officers, Grote said that she had delivered the baby into a toilet and that Smith, who was the father, cut the umbilical cord with a pair of pliers.
Child Protective Services took custody of the baby, and Dr. Dean Ettinger, a pediatrician who conducted an examination later that day, reported the situation as “a severe, severe case of failure to thrive and neglect.”
“This child,” Ettinger wrote, “had he not been brought in, may or may not have survived in the long run for more than four to six weeks.”
The baby was brought to University Medical Center in Tucson, the pre-sentence report states, where he was treated for “multiple medical problems,” including jaundice, hypoglycemia and a hernia.
CPS caseworker Hillary Mahoney testified at Monday’s proceedings that the child was underweight, of a “greenish-grey color,” and had a head larger than the rest of his body when he was taken from the home.
“He was visibly ill,” Mahoney said.
Rodriguez, 21, the mother of a 3-year-old girl not related to Smith, testified that while the child was small, “he didn’t appear to have anything wrong with him.”
“He played, he ate,” she said.
She also denied that Smith had abused or kidnapped her or any of the other women living at the home, and insisted that Grote, not Smith, had prevented the baby from receiving medical care.
Grote and Rodriguez were also indicted on child abuse charges in the case, but in March, Irwin sent the charges back to the grand jury, ruling that a deputy prosecutor had not offered the jury sufficient exculpatory evidence in favor Grote, and that the jury had indicted Rodriguez on insufficient evidence.
Grote, 22, who was re-indicted in June and arraigned on Monday, still decided to speak in Smith’s favor at the sentencing — and appeared to incriminate herself in the process.
“Charles Spencer Smith tried to take the baby to the doctor several times and I refused because I was scared,” she said, before adding:
“(Smith) didn’t know anything was wrong with him, he really didn’t.”
The charges against Rodriguez were dropped in May.
Herald/Review reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.
Amanda wrote on Aug 21, 2007 12:49 PM: