The article

Man convicted of hitting 2 month-old

Wellington, Kan. -
A jury found a Wellington man guilty, Wednesday, in a case involving injuries to his daughter.
Joshua Morton, 21, was charged with child abuse, aggravated endangerment of a child and aggravated battery after Morton’s 2-month-old daughter was taken to Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita with injuries to the head and face.
After almost two hours of deliberation, the jury returned their verdict — not guilty on the charge of child abuse but guilty on aggravated endangerment of a child and aggravated battery.
Morton was quiet as the verdict was read, though his eyes were red and swollen with tears. Family members, including Morton’s wife were in the audience to observe the verdict.
Morton first told police he had fallen down a flight of stairs with his daughter in his arms and that’s how the infant sustained the injuries, though twice afterwards in interviews, he changed his story, saying he hit the girl with a closed fist while she was laying on the couch with him.
Family members noticed something was wrong with the infant on a visit to the family.
Kim Brocks, the girl’s aunt, said when she tried to change the girl into pajamas, “she yelped” when it was time to put her arm through the sleeve. Later, Brocks noticed a bruise on the infant’s forehead and “twitching on her left side in her arm and leg.”
Det. John Defore of the Wellington Police Department said Morton was upset after police had been to his residence for a noise complaint and after he and his wife argued over financial woes.
Dr. Katherine Melhorn, a pediatrician at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, testified to the extend of the infant’s injuries. After examining the infant, Melhorn said there was bleeding in the brain, a skull fracture, hemorrhages in the eyes and a fracture on the girl’s left arm.
Though each injury by itself wasn’t life threatening, together they could be deadly, she said.
“They are not necessarily serious but indicate there was injury or trauma to the head that was serious or fatal,” Melhorn said.
When asked by Sumner County Prosecuting Attorney Evan Watson if the injuries were consistent with abuse, Melhorn said, “We see it in children who die from child abuse, though it was not as serious as what we see sometimes.”
Testimony from family members indicated the infant and her older brother had been in danger of mis-treatment before the incident occurred, with both children staying with family members for days at a time. Despite the testimony, Brocks said she was “surprised there were broken bones involved” when police told the family of the infant’s injuries.
Morton took the stand in his own defense, telling the court he fell down the steps after his shirt became caught in the railing. He said he threw the girl to avoid falling on her and that’s how the injuries were sustained.
“She stumbled down the steps and landed face down,” he said.
The Wellington man also said he noticed the trembling in the infant in the early morning hours while he was feeding her, but thought they were “growth spasms.”
When asked why he confessed to hitting the girl with his fist, not once, but twice, Morton said he just wanted the interviews with police to be over with and for him to go home.
“I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I was worried about my daughter,” said Morton. “I thought it would hurry up the process if I said something,”
Morton will be back in court today for a sentencing date. Check back with the Wellington News at www.wellingtondailynews.com.