|
The ruling by a
three-judge panel on Wednesday found prosecutors in Lane County,
south of Portland, failed to prove the dad, James Christopher
Hickey, had failed to perform a diaper change for the boy on
repeated occasions.
As a result, evidence of a "single untimely diaper change was
not sufficient to allow a jury to find" Hickey had not protected
the child from future "bodily harm," the Oregon appeals court
ruled in a 10-page opinion.
The 5-year-old boy, who has autism spectrum disorder and a
condition that makes him incontinent, had to wear a diaper
because he was not toilet trained, according to court records.
Hickey put his two children, ages 4 and 5, to bed at 8:30 p.m.
on Aug. 17, 2012, in the town of Springfield. They climbed out
of their bedroom window and were found the next morning by a
passing motorists, who called sheriff's deputies, according to
court records.
The 5-year-old boy's diaper was heavily soiled, prompting a
sheriff's deputy to change it as the boy, according to the
deputy's testimony, "writhed in discomfort."
At that point, it had been at least 14 hours since Hickey put
the child to bed, so the boy's diaper had gone unchanged for at
least that long and his skin was badly irritated, according to
the appeals court opinion.
The appeals court, while overturning Hickey's felony conviction
of mistreatment, let stand his conviction on two counts of
second-degree child neglect. Hickey served two years in prison
in the case, including on the conviction that was overturned,
but has since been released, said his public defender, Erica
Herb.
"There was a lot of stuff that came out at trial that showed my
client is not a bad person and is not a bad dad," she told
Reuters by telephone. She added that she did not know if Hickey
would sue prosecutors for damages over his conviction.
Lane County prosecutors could not immediately be reached for
comment.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan
Grebler)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
