Judge tells man to accept responsibility for child's injuries

Flathead District Judge David Ortley told a 26-year-old man to accept responsibility for injuries he allegedly caused a young child in 2014. 

Ortley sentenced Charles Philip Damon to a four-year deferred sentence last week. Damon had entered an Alford plea to one felony count of criminal endangerment as part of a plea agreement in which a felony charge of assault on a minor was originally charged. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain his or her innocence, but acknowledges that he or she could be found guilty at trial. It convicts the individual. A deferred imposition of sentence allows a person to be convicted of a crime and serve time on felony probation. If the probationary period is successfully completed, the defendant can have the conviction removed from his or her criminal record.

According to court documents, the 6-year old alleged victim was taken to North Valley Hospital on Oct. 16, 2014, with several bruises to the buttocks and hip. The child’s grandmother reported that the child had not been moving his head normally after she picked him up to take him home with her. The child allegedly told the woman that his mother’s boyfriend, Damon, had kicked him in the head.

In a forensic interview the next day, the child said that Damon had allegedly become upset with him because he had not been supervising his infant brother closely enough. He said that Damon threw him onto the ground in the corner of a laundry room and kicked him in the stomach. The child reported that Damon then struck him on his head, cheeks, legs and butt with a ruler. The child said it hurt to turn his head and that his neck was sore.

On Oct. 22, the child’s grandmother reported that she had taken the child to the doctor because he had headaches. The doctor diagnosed the boy with a concussion and abdominal bruising that was consistent with Damon’s alleged beating of the child.

The child’s mother, who said she lost custody of the boy after the incident, shook her head in court as Ortley pronounced his sentence and told Damon that he believed the child’s account of the beating.

“The child fell out of a vehicle the day before the alleged incident,” Damon’s defense attorney Tim Wenz said. “That’s why they were shaking their head ... Mr. Damon does deny that he beat the child and caused head injuries to the child. There were other circumstances that caused damage to the child.”

Ortley said that Damon’s admission at one point that he “may possibly have spanked this child too hard,” was glossing over the incident.

“At some time you will have to accept responsibility,” Ortley said. “You beat this child ... To the lady behind you shaking your head ... the evidence in this case can’t be clearer.”

Ortley ordered Damon to complete a parenting class within 90 days of sentencing and undergo cognitive behavioral therapy.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.