Carthage father assessed 10-year term for abuse of infant daughter

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Feb. 26—Circuit Judge David Mouton sentenced a 22-year-old Carthage father Monday to 10 years in prison for throwing and shaking his 7-week-old daughter.

At the conclusion of a sentencing hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court, Mouton assessed William H. Lones the maximum prison time permitted under a plea deal the defendant reached Nov. 8.

The defendant had pleaded down from a count of child abuse to felony child endangerment of his daughter, Everly, who suffered seizures, bleeding and swelling of the brain and bruising of her head when he picked her up, shook her and threw her down in a bassinet the night of Sept. 30, 2021.

Lones' attorney, Cobb Young, asked the judge to consider granting his client a suspended imposition of sentence and probation in light of his lack of any criminal history and the three weeks he spent in jail following his arrest and six months spent wearing an ankle monitor.

Young also presented the judge with a letter from the girl's mother urging the court to grant Lones probation as well as medical records from a pediatrics clinic visit about a year after the incident stating that the girl's medical issues had all been resolved.

Lones took the witness stand to testify how he regretted his actions, had resumed parenting of his daughter when she visits her paternal grandmother and is maintaining employment despite having been denied various jobs he sought since getting out of jail due to the stigma of the case.

The prosecutor's office opposed the request for probation, calling the child's maternal grandmother to testify how the abuse continues to have a negative effect on Everly's development.

Assistant Prosecutor Scott Watson asked Lones three times to tell the court what he did to his daughter before he finally acknowledged: "I threw her and shook her."

Young told the judge that Lones' status as a first-time father at the time of the offense should be given consideration.

"He obviously had a bad night," Young said, adding that Lones' ability to continue providing for the girl in the future should be a concern as well.

The judge responded to that characterization in pronouncing sentence, citing the critical condition in which the girl had been taken to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Mouton said it seemed to him that she was the one who had a truly "horrible" day.

"My greater concern is for the future of this little girl," the judge said.