30 Years for Beating Three Year Old to Death
You will recall I posted about this story previously. A man apparently decided that his three year old son might be turning out gay, so he decided, just as suggested by Jame Dobson in a recent parenting newsletter, that he could cure his son by "rough housing" with him.
He was trying to teach him how to fight…He was concerned that the child might be gay.’"
— Shanita Powell testifying against her brother-in-law, who beat his three-year-old son to death.
Well, the rough housing got out of hand, and he killed his son. He’s now been sentenced to 30 years in prison. I generally have a fairly liberal view on prison sentences, but in this case, I don’t really know if this enough time or not.
A man who told friends he didn’t want his 3-year-old son to become a sissy was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing the boy by slamming his head into a kitchen wall just weeks after the child’s return home from foster care.
Ronnie Paris, 22, was sentenced Friday after convictions last month for second-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. His son, Ronnie, died Jan. 28, six days after the boy slipped into a coma with swelling on both sides of his brain. Several witnesses testified during Paris’ trial that he sometimes got rough with the toddler while play fighting and told friends his father had raised him to be tough and he planned to raise Ronnie the same way because he didn’t want a "sissy" for a son.
The boy’s mother, Nysheerah Paris, 20, said her husband beat the boy and slammed his head into a kitchen wall. She is charged with child neglect and could get 15 years in prison if convicted.
…Ronnie Paris begged for leniency and apologized. Under state sentencing guidelines, the judge could have imposed 23 years to life in prison. "I loved my son dearly," he said. "I wish I could hold him here. … I never did anything to hurt my baby or abuse my baby in any way."
Interesting the Focus On The Family hasn’t come to this guys defense. After all, he was just doing what Dobson suggests.
