St. Ignatius man convicted of child abuse appeals
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GREAT FALLS — Attorneys for a St. Ignatius native convicted of child abuse admitted he severely beat his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son so badly the child had to be flown via helicopter to Spokane from Great Falls in January 2013. The attorneys argue in a brief filed in Montana Supreme Court in late May that a new trial should be conducted so that an aunt and uncle who knew about the abuse might also be culpable.
Riley Charlo-Whitworth, 23, was sentenced to 35 years in the Montana State Prison with none suspended after a jury found him guilty of child abuse in February 2014. Charlo-Whitworth was accused of beating the son of his girlfriend, Alexis Paul, so badly in January 2013 that the 23-month-old had life threatening injuries. Charlo-Whitworth was also ordered to register as a violent offender for the offense.
The child’s mother pleaded guilty to criminal endangerment and was sentenced to five years probation in a plea agreement. The child was returned to relatives in St. Ignatius.
The appeal claims an aunt and uncle that took the young couple in during winter 2012 should also have been held culpable. According to court documents the couple moved from St. Ignatius to Great Falls in late 2012 to seek work. The duo lived with the aunt and uncle until Paul found a couple of part-time jobs and obtained housing.
Paul left for her second job at 8:30 p.m. the night the child was injured. Charlo-Whitworth’s attorneys say in the appeal that the child was whiney, fell down the stairs when Charlo-Whitworth took the child with him to take out the trash, and that as punishment Charlo-Whitworth said “he shoved (the child) into the wall, spanked (the child), struck (the child) several times, and admitted to hammer fisting (the child’s) genitals.”
Around midnight, Charlo-Whitworth took the child to the home of the aunt and uncle, who noticed the injuries and noted that the child wouldn’t eat, drink, and could not walk properly when he was told to go lay on the couch. Charlo-Whitworth left to go pick up Paul from work and the child was left in the care of the aunt and uncle.
“(The uncle) knew immediately that (the child) was abused,” the appeal claims. “(The uncle) was very upset and told (the aunt) he thought Riley was abusing (the child). (The uncle) wanted to kill Riley because he assumed Riley had beaten (the child).”
The aunt and uncle told Paul that she should take the child to the emergency room when she picked the child up. The aunt told Paul that she thought the child had been abused. Paul returned home, but decided to take her son to the emergency room at 2:50 a.m., where the extent of his injuries were determined to include a torn pancreas, bruising on his head, face, legs, chest and genitals and a torn frenulum — the strip of tissue that connects the lip to the upper jaw.
Because the aunt and uncle did not seek medical attention, Charlo-Whitworth’s attorneys argue they should be held at least partly culpable for criminal endangerment.
“The failure to provide care to a child who is visibly injured constitutes criminal endangerment of the child,” public defenders in the case claim.
Charlo-Whitworth has asked for a new trial as remedy.
