Soccer Dad: Scalder gets off lightly

January 18, 2008

Scalder gets off lightly

The 9-year-old boy went outside without his godmother's permission. His punishment was to sit in a bathtub as the woman filled it with five pots of boiling water.

When he emerged from the scalding water, the lower half of his body was covered in severe burns. The woman waited four days to take him to a hospital.

The facts read into the court record during Shamia Lawson's plea agreement in November were horrific, making her punishment yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court all the more shocking to city prosecutors and the boy's relatives: six months behind bars. Lawson, 25, had been caring for her godson for several years at her West Baltimore apartment. She also has a young daughter of her own - whom she may be able to keep in her home.

Adding insult to injury:

She temporarily lost custody of the girl after the boy was burned, but city child protective services "saw fit to return her daughter to her," Nicholas Comaromi, Lawson's defense attorney, said in court yesterday. Lawson had been out on bail until yesterday.

Why didn't the judge impose a more severe sentence?

Circuit Judge John M. Glynn called the case "troubling," "disturbing" and "bad," and said there had to be "serious consequences for this."

Then he sentenced Lawson to 10 years in prison, with all but six months suspended. Explaining why in court, Glynn said, "The real point of a sentence like this is to deal with the defendant into the future."

He said he didn't think putting Lawson behind bars for several years "would be helping the situation" and said it would be up to the state-run Department of Social Services, which oversees Baltimore's child protective services, to decide what to do with the boy and the woman's biological daughter.

What did she say in her defense?

But she maintained that the scalding was not a punishment for his behavior, saying that the apartment had hot water problems and that they routinely added boiled water to raise the bath temperature.

This explains nothing. An idiot can tell the difference between very hot and scalding. But even let's say - for the sake of argument - one pot of boiling water might be understandable. But five?

But even one pot of boiling water defies belief. Water at about 105 degrees Fahrenheit will be uncomfortably hot.

But here's what the CPSC writes about tap water scalding:

Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if exposed to 150 degree water for two seconds. Burns will also occur with a six-second exposure to 140 degree water or with a thirty second exposure to 130 degree water. Even if the temperature is 120 degrees, a five minute exposure could result in third-degree burns.

The article only describes "severe burns" not what degree they are. Still, the CPSC says that a burn can occur in an adult with a 6 second exposure to 140 degree water. It strains credulity past the breaking point to believe that this assault was accidental.

The judge is concerned about disrupting the defendant's life, but here's the consequences of her actions:

Fairley, the boy's grandfather, dismissed Lawson's resume, though he said he thought the judge was influenced by it.

"No matter how educated you are, child abuse is child abuse," he said.

Fairley said the boy is still undergoing treatment and rehabilitation. He has had several skin-graft surgeries, and doctors worry about permanent damage.

What was the judge thinking?

crime.