Oregon law keeps prosecutors from charging child abusers if babies can't tell what happened to them

[tinydancer]

How freaking unreal is this? I can't believe what numbskulls could pass a law like this that gives a child abuser a pass if the babies can't talk.

Check out the pictures. Talk about a picture is worth a thousand words. This poor baby was smacked about.

• One-year-old Jacob's parents left him with the babysitter in March

• They claim they returned to find him screaming and the babysitter asleep

• The next day, they claim they found Jacob was covered in bruises and went to police

• They want criminal charges filed against the babysitter but authorities have decided not to pursue the case

• 

• 

An Oregon couple claim their baby (pictured) was left with horror injuries at the hands of their babysitter – including a bruise shaped like a hand print – but the authorities are not pursuing the case

Marbury was referring to a 2012 ruling in the Oregon Court of Appeals which prosecutors say make it harder to file charges in cases of abuse where the victims can't speak, according to OregonLive.

In order to convict a child abuser of felony assault or criminal mistreatment, according to the website, prosecutors have to prove the victim suffered a 'physical injury' and suffered 'substantial pain'.

This is difficult to prove if victims are unable to explain their suffering, according to an an earlier article on the ruling.


Read more: Parents outraged babysitter can't be tried for injuring their son
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[SassyIrishLass]

WTF? That child was abused

 

[ScienceRocks]

How sickening. This law needs to be changed as it is bullshit. This idiot needs to go to prison.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

I swear on all that is Holy...if someone did this to one of our children they would wish they were in jail

 

[turzovka]

How freaking unreal is this? I can't believe what numbskulls could pass a law like this that gives a child abuser a pass if the babies can't talk.

Check out the pictures. Talk about a picture is worth a thousand words. This poor baby was smacked about.

• One-year-old Jacob's parents left him with the babysitter in March

• They claim they returned to find him screaming and the babysitter asleep

• The next day, they claim they found Jacob was covered in bruises and went to police

• They want criminal charges filed against the babysitter but authorities have decided not to pursue the case

• 

• 

An Oregon couple claim their baby (pictured) was left with horror injuries at the hands of their babysitter – including a bruise shaped like a hand print – but the authorities are not pursuing the case

Marbury was referring to a 2012 ruling in the Oregon Court of Appeals which prosecutors say make it harder to file charges in cases of abuse where the victims can't speak, according to OregonLive.

In order to convict a child abuser of felony assault or criminal mistreatment, according to the website, prosecutors have to prove the victim suffered a 'physical injury' and suffered 'substantial pain'.

This is difficult to prove if victims are unable to explain their suffering, according to an an earlier article on the ruling.


Read more: Parents outraged babysitter can't be tried for injuring their son
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Sad.

"Keep Portland Weird."

 

[Dale Smith]

I swear on all that is Holy...if someone did this to one of our children they would wish they were in jail

Fucking A....someone did that to my child? They would be BEGGGING the cops to come take them to jail.......what a sorry piece of unmitigated shit.

 

[Disir]

Staten, the prosecutor, said he hadn't previously seen the photos Jacob's father posted to Facebook on Friday.


"Seeing those photos has caused me to want to take a different path," Staten said Saturday in a phone interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive.


There were investigative photos taken in Jacob's case, Staten said, but "there's additional people I need to consult with based on those photos I've seen today."

So, they weren't going to do anything at all until it went viral.

And then there is this:


Eve Oldenkamp, president of the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said the law describing "physical injury" to people "has been that way for eons" and works well by convicting those who should be convicted.

Any problems that prosecutors encountered in the case of the 22-year-old baby sitter might have been because the evidence simply wasn't there, or the prosecutor didn't ask the right questions, Oldenkamp said.

Prosecutors also can charge defendants suspected of bruising a child with harassment, Oldenkamp said. The law defines harassment as "intentionally" harassing or annoying another person by using "offensive physical contact."

Prosecutors don't need to prove "physical injury" to get a conviction for harassment, which is a misdemeanor.

"The reason they don't want to charge harassment is because they want to label as many people as felons as they possibly can," Oldenkamp said. "That seems rather disturbing to me."
Even pets are better protected than young kids under Oregon abuse laws, prosecutors say

That is how stupid shit gets started.

 

[deltex1]

I suppose the child would not know if it was killed either. Is that where they're headed?

Insanity.