Who is Brantly William Scott? Missouri man sentenced to 25 years in prison for shaking his 2-month-old baby to death
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI: A Missouri father is sentenced to 25 years behind bars for shaking his baby to death in 2020.
Brantly William Scott, 26, was found guilty of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death during a bench trial in June and was sentenced on Friday, September 22, ABC affiliate KY3 News reports.
“This outcome serves as a reminder that child abuse and neglect will not be tolerated in our community,” Chad Garner, chief deputy of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, said in a press release.
“We remain committed to protecting our most vulnerable and ensuring justice is served,” Garner added.
The victim had multiple bruises on his body
According to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, an arrest affidavit stated Scott called the emergency responders to say that his two-month-old son was not breathing in their trailer in Tunas, about 50 miles north of Springfield, on December 15, 2020.
The boy was rushed to a hospital but doctors said the boy had limited brain activity. A CT scan showed swelling and hemorrhaging of the brain, the affidavit stated.
The victim also suffered bruising along the forehead, jawline and chest. Besides, there were several signs of bruising at different stages of healing with no real explanation from the child's parents, the affidavit added.
The victim was apparently grabbed by his face
The boy also suffered retinal hemorrhages in his right eye and “multiple layers of damage which is consistent with abusive head trauma,” as per the affidavit.
Documents stated that a bruise on his chin suggested someone grabbed the boy by his face. The child breathed his last on December 17, 2020, and an autopsy report revealed the cause of death was Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
What did the suspect say?
Scott told a social worker at the hospital the boy was crying and he told him to stop and left him to cook dinner.
Later, he found the boy hardly breathing after 10 minutes and choking on spit, documents said.
Scott further stated that he was doing CPR on the boy when he accidentally dropped him on the floor.
He justified the facial injuries by saying that the boy bumped his head while in his bouncer and when he was trying to hold up his head.
But, the medical staff noted that the injuries could not have come from Scott dropping the boy while doing CPR nor from the boy bumping his head. They concluded the injuries were intentionally inflicted, the affidavit said.
The victim's parents were interrogated separately
Scott and his wife were separately interviewed by the Dallas County investigators on December 21. He reiterated his story that he dropped the baby on the floor while doing CPR but detectives told him the boy died of Shaken Baby Syndrome.
Scott’s wife told detectives her husband said he dropped the baby on the bed while doing CPR, the affidavit said. His wife broke down when she came to know that her son died of SBS. She said she would never hurt her baby and didn’t think her husband would either.
Scott admitted what really happened in a subsequent interview
“During this time Brantly stated ‘I shook him before I put him in the bassinet. Arrest me, let’s go,'” Scott told the investigator.
He further explained that he lost his cool, grabbed the boy by his arms, shook him and threw him on the bed, the affidavit said. His wife was outside talking on the phone at the time, he said.
An officer wrote in the affidavit, “I asked Brantly what he meant [when he said] that he just got mad,” and Brantly responded by saying, “Well when she left he was screaming and she was supposed to help me with him and he was fussing and being mad and she just left me with him and I just snapped I guess.”
Scott said he “saw black and he guessed he blacked out,” the affidavit said. An investigator asked if he tried to console the baby, but Scott said his wife usually did that.
“During his confession, Brantly never showed any emotion,” the affidavit noted.