"John Doe" - 10 yo - Minneapolis MN

A 23-year-old Minneapolis man was convicted Tuesday of malicious
punishment for beating and burning his girlfriend's 10-year-old son, who
tried to hide in the kitchen oven to escape a beating.
William T. Hurley had acknowledged earlier that he was guilty of
malicious punishment of a child, a gross misdemeanor, but left it to
Hennepin County District Judge Robert Small to decide whether he was
guilty of a felony, which requires "substantial bodily harm." In a
six-page order, Small determined that he was guilty.
In a brief court session, the judge said little to Hurley other than
ordering him to comply with the court officer who conducts his
presentence interviews.
Small set sentencing for 9 a.m. on July 21. Hurley is not in custody
and appeared in court with his lawyer Robert Paule, but said nothing. He
waived his right to a jury trial and allowed Small to decide his guilt
or innocence based on agreed-upon facts submitted by the defense and the
prosecutor.
The record showed that on Nov. 6, 2009, police received a call about
child abuse and went to an apartment on the 2200 block of Elliot Avenue
S.
Hurley told police he had "whooped" the child because he didn't
follow an order to come out of his mother's bedroom. When the child ran
to his own room and hid under a bed, Hurley pulled him out and burned
him with a hot iron on the left leg and arm. The child fled the
apartment, but the defendant struck him with a closed fist as the child
clung to a stair rail. The child's mother helped drag him back into
their apartment, Small's order said.
The boy then tried to hide in the oven, but once that was turned on,
he came out and Hurley whipped his arms, legs and torso with an
extension cord. The child had many whip marks, including some that cut
his skin through his pajamas.
Small found the discipline -- using a hot iron and an extension cord
-- to be cruel, unusual and excessive under the circumstances.

The mother of a 10-year-old Minneapolis boy who climbed into the
kitchen oven to escape a beating has pleaded guilty to felony child
endangerment for pulling her son back into the family apartment after he
tried to escape her boyfriend.
Debra D. Chatman, 27, of Minneapolis, detailed the incident through
yes-and-no answers to questions from her lawyer in Hennepin County
District Court Monday morning, outlining a series of events in which her
son was burned by William T. Hurley with an iron, then ran outside.
Chatman pulled the boy back inside. She said she was conflicted about
what to do because she also had a 6-year-old and a 1-year-old in the
home.
Back in the apartment, Hurley beat the boy and Chatman herself, she
said.
Prosecutor Dan Allard asked: "You had other options. You could have
gone to a neighbor's. You could have called 911. You didn't do anything
of those things?"
Without turning to look at him, Chatman responded, "No."
According to the charges: Police arrived on Nov. 6 at an apartment in
the 2000 block of Elliott Avenue on a child-abuse call. The boy told
officers that Hurley was upset with him for being in his mother's
bedroom and that Hurley punched him and threatened to kill him. The boy
tried to hide in the oven, but Chatman turned it on, the boy came out
and Hurley whipped his arms, legs and torso with an extension cord. The
child had many whip marks, including some that cut his skin through his
pajamas.
Officers saw marks and burns on the boy's body, and, as they spoke to
him, Hurley said he had "whooped" [the boy] and "that he would get
another," the complaint said. Hurley had to be restrained by police, the
complaint said.
The boy was taken to a hospital, and Chatman does not have custody of
him now.
She will be sentenced Aug. 9 by District Judge Robert Small. Under a
plea agreement, she is expected to serve no prison time. She could be
required to perform up to 20 days of community service.