Thread: Hillsboro dad gets 6 months in jail for scalding baby

http://www.oregonlive.com

Hillsboro dad gets 6 months in jail for scalding baby
Child abuse - Felix Perez Dominguez will be deported to Mexico after he serves his sentence
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
HOLLY DANKS
The Oregonian
HILLSBORO -- Despite pleas from the child's mother, a Washington County judge sentenced a 31-year-old father to six months in jail for deliberately burning his 6-month-old daughter with scalding bath water.

Felix Perez Dominguez, an illegal immigrant, will be deported to Mexico as soon as he finishes serving his term in the Washington County Jail.

"All I have to say is, everything I did -- parenting classes, psychological testing -- did that not count for anything?" Perez said through a translator when Circuit Judge Nancy W. Campbell gave him a chance to speak at Friday's sentencing.

Christal Camberg Perez, his wife and the baby's mother, said Perez had complied with Department of Human Services conditions while out on bail so they could get their five children back.

"I don't think we need to be punished more than that," Christal Perez said, noting the children were in foster care for about a year.

She loudly sobbed when Campbell found aggravating circumstances and sentenced Perez to six times more than the 30 days Jennifer Davis, court-appointed defense attorney, argued was the norm for third-degree assault.

Andrew Erwin, Washington County deputy district attorney, asked for a 12-month sentence. Perez, angry because his teething daughter wouldn't stop crying, scarred her for life and showed no remorse, he said.

"It was outrageous behavior," Erwin said. "It's extreme against the most defenseless person in our society."

Jurors took about 40 minutes to unanimously find Perez guilty of first-degree criminal mistreatment and third-degree assault after a 11/2-day trial earlier this month.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Perez denied burning his daughter Amelia on purpose during the Dec. 2, 2003, incident in their Hillsboro apartment.

He said he turned on the faucet to warm up the water Amelia was sitting in. When he turned away, Amelia moved under the faucet just as someone in the apartment next door turned on the water or flushed the toilet, which made the water get really hot, Perez said.

A doctor testified, however, that the second- and third-degree burns on Amelia's left leg formed a ring just below her knee, unlike the pattern that would have formed if she had splashed the water on herself while sitting in the tub.

No child would willingly hold her leg under a faucet for 5 to 8 seconds with 135-degree water hitting her, added Dr. Joseph Zenel, director of the child abuse team at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland. That's how long it would take to create such burns at the highest temperature police found when they tested the water in the Perez apartment, Zenel said.

Holly Danks: 503-221-4377; hollydanks@news.oregonian.com

Originally Posted by Brian503a

http://www.oregonlive.com

Hillsboro dad gets 6 months in jail for scalding baby
Child abuse - Felix Perez Dominguez will be deported to Mexico after he serves his sentence
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
HOLLY DANKS
The Oregonian
HILLSBORO -- Despite pleas from the child's mother, a Washington County judge sentenced a 31-year-old father to six months in jail for deliberately burning his 6-month-old daughter with scalding bath water.

Felix Perez Dominguez, an illegal immigrant, will be deported to Mexico as soon as he finishes serving his term in the Washington County Jail.

"All I have to say is, everything I did -- parenting classes, psychological testing -- did that not count for anything?" Perez said through a translator when Circuit Judge Nancy W. Campbell gave him a chance to speak at Friday's sentencing.

Christal Camberg Perez, his wife and the baby's mother, said Perez had complied with Department of Human Services conditions while out on bail so they could get their five children back.

"I don't think we need to be punished more than that," Christal Perez said, noting the children were in foster care for about a year.

She loudly sobbed when Campbell found aggravating circumstances and sentenced Perez to six times more than the 30 days Jennifer Davis, court-appointed defense attorney, argued was the norm for third-degree assault.

Andrew Erwin, Washington County deputy district attorney, asked for a 12-month sentence. Perez, angry because his teething daughter wouldn't stop crying, scarred her for life and showed no remorse, he said.

"It was outrageous behavior," Erwin said. "It's extreme against the most defenseless person in our society."

Jurors took about 40 minutes to unanimously find Perez guilty of first-degree criminal mistreatment and third-degree assault after a 11/2-day trial earlier this month.

Taking the stand in his own defense, Perez denied burning his daughter Amelia on purpose during the Dec. 2, 2003, incident in their Hillsboro apartment.

He said he turned on the faucet to warm up the water Amelia was sitting in. When he turned away, Amelia moved under the faucet just as someone in the apartment next door turned on the water or flushed the toilet, which made the water get really hot, Perez said.

A doctor testified, however, that the second- and third-degree burns on Amelia's left leg formed a ring just below her knee, unlike the pattern that would have formed if she had splashed the water on herself while sitting in the tub.

No child would willingly hold her leg under a faucet for 5 to 8 seconds with 135-degree water hitting her, added Dr. Joseph Zenel, director of the child abuse team at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland. That's how long it would take to create such burns at the highest temperature police found when they tested the water in the Perez apartment, Zenel said.

Six months in jail is all and getting deported to Mexico after??? How many children in Mexico is this sadist and despicable excuse for a human being going to scald or otherwise abuse? I'm not up on laws or how many days, months or even years various criminals serve, but I believe I might not be wrong in thinking that non-violent drug users or white collar criminals may serve much more than JUST SIX MONTHS IN JAIL. I say a life prison sentence (in this case send the bill taxpayers will foot to scumbag Vicente Fox because this is an illegal alien from his country) or, better yet, the death penalty without all the legal crap costing taxpayers for the defense and trying to stop the actual execution date. This is one true sick individual who would deliberately or in any other way scald a baby/child and cause this much severe pain and disfigurement.

Sick! Sick! Sick! The bas###d needs much more punishment than just six months in jail and deportation after.

P.S. I bet if this was a mother that committed the crime instead of a father that NOW (National Organization for Women) would be defending her left and right and claiming something outrageous such as post-partem depression and oppression by the hubby, such as they did in the Andrea Yates case (that women who cold-bloodedly murdered her five children by drowning them in a bathtub).

I agree, Annie. Anybody who would pour boiling water on a baby deserves life.

Originally Posted by had_enuf

I agree, Annie. Anybody who would pour boiling water on a baby deserves life.

I agree with you, had_enuf, but I think this situation calls for MUCH MORE than JUST a life sentence.

Originally Posted by had_enuf

I agree, Annie. Anybody who would pour boiling water on a baby deserves death.

Fixed!

So, is the mother an illegal alien too? And the children? Anchor-babies, I bet. If the father is deported but the rest of the family stays here, I wonder just how long it will take him to get back to Oregon? And if he is deported and the rest of the family stays here, who is going to support them........DHS (Oregon taxpayers). I wish there were a way to find the answers to these questions.

Originally Posted by Brian503a

Originally Posted by had_enuf

I agree, Annie. Anybody who would pour boiling water on a baby deserves death.

Fixed!

I agree. Burning someone deliberately is vicious and if it doesn't call for the death sentence, then at least a lifetime in jail sharing a cell with Big Bubba.

My 9 year old daughter dealt with a burn just before this past Christmas but of a much smaller area of her body such as an approximate 2 x 2 inch area of her inner left wrist. The doctor said it was a deep second degree burn. Just before school let out for the winter break, I received a call from my child's teacher that during lunch my daughter was reaching for a cheeseburger on one side of the cafeteria line while an employee was on the other side trying to remove a pan and replace it. The school nurse as well as my child's doctor believe the burn was caused by steam beneath the pan even though there was scalding water and the underside of the pan was hot as well. The burn area was mostly a solid 2 x 2 inch and took more than two weeks to heal with a prescription antibiotic and over-the-counter special dressings and tape. I'm working with the schools insurance carrier for out-of-pocket expenses for insurance co-pays and the costs of the special bandages, etc. Just think, after that woman won a million some settlement years ago by suing McDonalds after she spilt scalding hot coffee on herself, I could be a millionnaire. But, no, I'm not like that. I'd prefer to make my millions by winning the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes (not). The cafeteria lady was careless but this was unintentional and all I'm asking for is reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses. I wouldn't think much of anyone who would sue a school because taxpayers end up footing the bill in the long run. However, if it had been my daughter's face instead of her wrist that had been burned, well . . .

Just this small burned area and a second degree one was very painful for my daughter. I cannot imagine what the baby mentioned in the article experienced with the more extensive area of her body burned and some areas third degrees.