Mom pleads guilty in baby-swinging case

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

ERIE, Pa. - A woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to swinging her 4-week-old son like a bat to hit her boyfriend during a fight, fracturing the infant's skull in the process.

Chytoria Graham, 27, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child under a plea agreement with prosecutors.

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

At Graham's preliminary hearing in December, paramedic Betty Schau, who treated the baby, 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."

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

Graham's previous attorney had said Graham did not use her child as a weapon, that the boy was hurt during a fight between the two adults and that Graham lied to authorities about how the injury occurred to protect her boyfriend.

Her current attorney, public defender Julia Dudics, however, said Tuesday that the choice to plead guilty was Graham's. Dudics declined further comment except to say that Graham had told her she was depressed.

Jarron, who made a full recovery, and Graham's four other children are currently in the custody of her parents.

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[Robor007 0]

Wow. Just wow. This goes back to somehow making people pass a test before they're allowed to become parents.

[almaty 19]

wow...#######/ just wrong..that mother is terrible

[Mags 112]

Yeah, I mean, you wanna hit your husband, you look around your apartment...what can you see that will work perfectly? A toddler! Bingo!!

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

Yeah, I mean, you wanna hit your husband, you look around your apartment...what can you see that will work perfectly? A toddler! Bingo!!

Why not pick up a Cat, they make great weapons with the hissing & claws and all, But a child!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Thats just pure evil.

[dNelson29 0]

Just what kind of drugs was she on?!

[wong_watkins 1]

Reminds me one time we were driving by a neighborhood where there's a big sign that reads "Shaking your child can cause serious injuries"or something like that..like people have to be reminded that they shouldn't shake their children?#######?!!

[Lizzy 0]

How shocking disgusting

[~Chad~ 0]

thats awful!

[mercy 1]

I couldn't even read the whole thing, it literally made me feel ill. Who could actually do that?

[Aymerlu 3]

Freak

[Portlander 0]

wow. That sounds like someone who seriously lost control. As a parent, it is hard to imagine something like that, because every instinct is to protect the baby. I'm thinking like the judge - insanity and/or drug use. Just too weird otherwise!~

EDIT - just to Erie, otherwise

Edited March 8, 2007 by Portlander

[malka 0]

Shocking, terrible, and completely awful --yes. But evil? I'm not so sure. I'd agree with the posts about losing control. This is a single mother of five children, with the youngest only 4 weeks old - I'd bet she was completely overwhelmed and sleep-deprived, probably post-partum, and legitimately gone psychotic.

Remember that tragic case a few years ago -- Andrea something? The perfect little wifey and loving mother who drowned her 5 beautiful children and whose husband came whistling home from a nice day at the office to find them all laid out near the bathtub?

No amount of mother-love is going to overcome the hard fact that someone who is depressed and sleep-deprived and intensely overworked is liable to snap.

I'm not saying that it's fine and dandy that this woman injured her child like that - just that people who are saying Oh What a Horrible Person and that they, personally, would NEVER do ANYTHING like that aren't taking into account the powerful forces of exhaustion and mental illness.

P.S. Maybe she was doing drugs or really is some heartless witch, in which case my sympathy for her is GONE. But I'm glad she's getting a psych evaluation before she gets sentenced.

Edited March 8, 2007 by malka