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VERNAL — A judge temporarily postponed sentencing for a Vernal man who kicked his 7-year-old son in the face — causing bleeding inside the boy's skull — because the man said Tuesday he was in too much physical pain to follow what was happening in court.
Before 8th District Judge Clark McClellan made his decision, he heard an emotional plea from Cindy Barton, an attorney who represents Adam Joshua Smith's son and daughter through the state Office of Guardian ad Litem.
"Your honor, on behalf of these children, I beg that this man go to prison for the maximum amount of time," said the veteran lawyer, her voice cracking at times with emotion. "And that he be allowed, there in prison, to get whatever therapies that he can possibly get to become some kind of a human being.
"These children deserve to know that the state of Utah will protect them," Barton said.
Smith, 33, entered the courtroom on crutches, which he leaned on heavily as he stood before McClellan at the beginning of the hearing. Defense attorney Lance Dean was asking the judge to consider supervised probation for his client when he had to stop and retrieve a chair so Smith could sit down.
"He's about to pass out," Dean told McClellan, explaining that Smith fell off a roof in 2009 and has chronic hip pain as a result.
Even seated, Smith continued to cling to one of his crutches, his face contorting occasionally in apparent pain, as Barton and Uintah County prosecutor Jaymon Thomas asked the judge to send Smith to prison.
"The argument was made that he should be given the chance of supervised probation," Thomas said. "Well (his) children should be given the chance for a normal childhood. Those children should be given the chance of not being beat by their father."
Barton told the court Smith's son and daughter continue to struggle emotionally, despite ongoing therapy. The state Division of Child and Family Services had been working with the family for more than a year, Barton said, when Adam and Karysa Smith brought their son to a Vernal hospital in April with a head injury.
"We knew we had black eyes. We knew we had missed school. We knew we had them pulling (the kids) out of school," Barton told McClellan.
"We had all these injuries," she continued, "but along with them there was a course of conduct that trained these children to lie about everything that had happened in their home."
Police and prosecutors say Smith and his wife lied to doctors on April 4, claiming their son had fallen down a flight of five ceramic stairs at home. The boy was treated and released, but was brought back to the hospital several days later when a DCFS caseworker noticed more severe bruising, investigators said.
A CAT scan showed a large amount of blood under the boy's scalp, court records state. A forensic nurse who examined the boy said the injury can cause a substantial risk of death for a child and was "difficult to explain by a fall down five stairs."
During an interview, the boy told investigators his father kicked him in the face, causing his head to hit a gun safe, court records state. The child said "his father did this several times," investigators said.
Adam and Karysa Smith also "beat" or "spanked" their child with a belt, according to charging documents.
The Smiths ultimately accepted plea agreements from prosecutors that required them to surrender their parental rights to both their children, who are now in the process of being adopted, Barton said.
Karysa Smith, 26, entered a no contest plea to child abuse, a second-degree felony, and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a class B misdemeanor. She was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 130 hours of community service.
Woman who lied about husband's child abuse gets probation
A woman who lied about her husband's life-threatening physical abuse of the couple's 7-year-old son has been sentenced to probation and community service.The child abuse conviction will be dismissed if she has no new criminal violations during her probation, according to the terms of her plea deal.
Adam Smith pleaded guilty to child abuse, a third-degree felony, which carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison. His sentencing hearing was nearly finished Tuesday when McClellan asked Smith: "Do you understand what's going on here today?"
"Honestly right now, I'm just, I can't explain it very well but," Smith said, grimacing, drawing in a short breath and letting it out with a brief sigh.
"I'm confused," he said.
McClellan decided to continue the hearing rather than proceed and risk a possible appeal of the sentence. He ordered bailiffs to take Smith into custody, after expressing concern that Smith might harm himself if allowed to leave the courthouse.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled to resume Wednesday.
