XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: jlocke@aol.com   
      
   BRENTWOOD, N.H. –  A man accused of inflicting a "reign of   
   terror" on his girlfriend's 3-year-old son before fleeing to a   
   Florida amusement park was sentenced Thursday to up to 67 years   
   in prison on assault and other charges.   
      
   Roland Dow, 28, of Plaistow, was convicted in June of assaulting   
   James Nicholson, failing to get him medical help, coaching him   
   to lie to a social worker and secretly recording the social   
   worker's visit. He and the boy's mother, Jessica Linscott, were   
   arrested at the Universal Orlando Resort in November 2012, two   
   weeks after leaving the toddler at a hospital with a brain   
   injury, head-to-toe bruises and burns on his arm and hand.   
      
   Linscott pleaded guilty to child endangerment and witness   
   tampering and is serving 2 1/2 to 7 years in prison. Dow, who   
   was convicted of 11 charges and acquitted of burning the boy,   
   was sentenced to 25 1/2 to 67 years in Rockingham County   
   Superior Court, where Judge Marguerite Wageling called his   
   behavior deliberate, depraved and sadistic. Saying James was   
   "dragged into hell," the judge contrasted Dow's treatment of   
   James with testimony that he was "the most darling of fathers"   
   to his own young daughter.   
      
   "James was treated like a caged animal, and putting that up   
   against the apparent wonderful behavior he knew how to provide   
   to a child makes it even more sick," Wageling said. "He then   
   flew out of the area and engaged in happy-go-lucky entertainment   
   while James lay in a hospital bed having holes drilled in his   
   skull to relieve the pressure of the injuries he sustained."   
      
   In arguing for a sentence of five to 10 years, attorney Thomas   
   Gleason said his client is "sorry James was injured and hurt"   
   but added that many questions remain about who caused the   
   injuries and whether jurors considered him an accomplice to   
   Linscott or the main perpetrator. Gleason also painted Linscott   
   as a longtime liar who blamed her ex-boyfriend for crimes she   
   could have committed herself.   
      
   Prosecutors countered that being an awful mother doesn't mean   
   Linscott was lying. Assistant County Attorney Patricia Conway   
   said Dow beat the boy, tied him to a bed and subjected him to   
   "torture sessions" in the bathroom.   
      
   "For whatever reason, God only knows, this man hated James. He   
   hated him, and he began his reign of terror against this 3-year-   
   old little toddler," Conway said.   
      
   Although Linscott admitted spanking her son and participating in   
   other harsh punishments, she also testified that Dow abused her   
   and treated her son "worse than a dog you don't want." Jurors   
   viewed photos of James' injuries and videos showing the child   
   whimpering in pain and crashing to the floor while Dow was heard   
   yelling: "Get up!" and "Stop having a fit!"   
      
   "You could hear the hate and the disdain this man had for this   
   child, it was palpable, you could almost taste it," Conway said.   
   "James didn't just watch those videos; he lived through it."   
      
   James, now 5, lives with his grandmother and is "doing great"   
   physically, Conway said. The boy's great-grandmother Germaine   
   Mullen said he still has a shunt in his head, but his   
   intelligence was not affected. She said James visits his mother   
   in prison but remains terrified of Dow and has asked: "Why did   
   Roland hurt me all the time?"   
      
   She said she has assured James that Dow is in prison.   
      
   "The look of relief that came over that child's face? It was   
   almost like when someone wins the lottery," she said.   
      
   Dow, who didn't testify at his trial, didn't speak at the   
   sentencing either. His attorney and mother declined to comment   
   afterward.   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/08/14/prosecutors-seek-30-60-   
   years-for-man-who-beat-girlfriend-son-3-then-went-   
   to/?intcmp=obinsite   
      
       
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)