Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"What about the bruise on her head, did you notice it?" Hapgood asked Barrett.
"I noticed it. All babies, when they crawl, get bruises," Barrett answered quickly and calmly. "There's not a baby in the United States that doesn't get a bruise."
But Barrett's daughter had more serious injuries than a bruise. She also suffered a series of untreated broken bones.
And as his wife was earlier this month, Barrett was found guilty Tuesday of felony child neglect. He was sentenced to three years in prison by Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III.
Barrett, 23, yelled obscenities and pounded a wall in a fit of rage after being led from the courtroom by a sheriff's deputy.
Hapgood, who told Davis about Barrett's volatile temper Tuesday, shook his head on hearing the outburst.
Because of the nature of the evidence in the case, Hapgood decided to charge the Barretts with neglect and not child abuse. But the prosecutor still has questions about how the infant was injured.
Barrett's 17-year-old wife, Alice, fought back tears as she walked out of the courtroom Tuesday. She was convicted Aug. 10 and is to be sentenced Sept. 21.
According to testimony Tuesday, the Barretts' 9-month-old daughter, their only child, was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital on Halloween night last year by a family friend. A police investigator and physicians who examined the child said her arm was dangling and limp when she was brought to the hospital.
An X-ray revealed that her forearm was fractured.
Additional X-rays showed her other forearm and one of her shoulders had been fractured and were in the latter stages of healing. A sizeable bruise was found on her head.
And the cry the doctors heard while examining the infant wasn't normal, they said.
During her trial, Alice Barrett said her daughter fractured her arm when she fell off a bed sometime around Halloween.
At Alice Barrett's trial and again Tuesday, Hapgood argued that the Barretts should have noticed the broken bones and should have sought proper medical attention for their daughter.
However, Clyde Barrett's attorney, Wayne Inge, countered Hapgood's argument. He said that, of the four adults present in the child's home, his client should be held least responsible for his daughter's condition.
"The child was primarily cared for by the mother and grandmother," Inge said.
Inge also said the Barretts needed, but never received, training in raising children.
Inge later asked Clyde Barrett how much time he spent caring for his daughter, who was born almost two months premature.
"About 40 [percent]," was Barrett's reply. He also said he played with the child the night before she was taken to the hospital and didn't notice anything abnormal.
Shortly after the child was treated, she was placed in a foster home, where she continues to improve, Hapgood said.
Before imposing sentence on Clyde Barrett, Davis said, "When children have children, it's unfortunate."
Davis also sentenced Barrett to two years in prison Tuesday on a prior grand larceny conviction.
Hapgood said Barrett has another larceny charge pending in Franklin County General District Court.
by CNB