Palisade woman receives 7-10 years

TRENTON -- Judge John Battershell sentenced the Palisade mother, convicted Oct. 2 of child abuse, to seven to 10 years in prison Tuesday morning, despite her tearful and outraged pleas to be reunited with her children.

Battershell told Renae McDaniel that he and the jury believe she is responsible for the injuries to her then 1-year-old son, Johnathon, because she and Johnathon were, by her own admission, alone in the bedroom, behind a door she had locked from the inside. "Johnathon couldn't get out," Battershell said.

Prosecuting attorney Sam Bethune asked Battershell to impose the maximum sentence for the abuse that nearly killed the baby boy. Bethune said 20 years imprisonment is appropriate because of the severity of the injuries and the fact that McDaniel, throughout her trial, conviction and presentence investigation, has demonstrated a "complete and utter lack of remorse and contrition, and a failure to accept even one iota of responsibility for what happened to her child." Bethune said McDaniel's own statements during presentence investigations would seem to make her "a candidate for sainthood and mother of the year." McDaniel portrayed herself, Bethune said, as "a combination of June Cleaver, Detective Columbo and Florence Nightingale" to probation officials. He said she blamed her boyfriend, Shawn West, and her mother's boyfriend, Andre Crispin, for Johnathon's injuries throughout interviews. The injuries "were their fault," Bethune said McDaniel contended. "Not mine ... never mine."

Bethune called McDaniel cruel, vicious and narcissistic. Bethune concluded, "We are judged by what we do to the least of our citizens."

McDaniel vehemently disagreed with prosecution's portrayal of her as "a terrible mother. "I want my children," she said.

"You don't know me from a total stranger," McDaniel told prosecutors Bethune and Hitchcock County Attorney D. Eugene Garner. "I'm convicted of something I didn't do."

McDaniel choked on tears and sobs and her voice grew louder and louder as she accused her attorney of not calling witnesses to defend her. "This one (pointing to her attorney, Bob Conner) can't even remember my kids' names," McDaniel shouted. "And the only reason them two (pointing to Bethune and Garner) know is 'cause they're written a thousand times."

"No remorse?" she cried. "I have lots of remorse." She continued, sobbing and pulling her stringy hair away from her face, "Fourteen to 20 years for something you don't even know. You didn't find out who really did it."

McDaniel was upset that Conner did not call her then- 4-year-old daughter to the stand to tell prosecutors that she saw Andre Crispin hit Johnathon, and that he did not let McDaniel herself testify, to defend herself. Swiping at her nose, McDaniel told the judge, "It doesn't matter what I say to prove myself innocent." Social Services, she said, is using her children "because they want more money." "And the foster mother wants to adopt my oldest son," McDaniel shouted. "And they've taken my visitation away."

"All I want to hear is them saying, 'I love you, Mommy,'" she cried.

"I can just imagine what you're thinking," McDaniel told Battershell, mumbling something about "losing it." "I'm nuts for my kids, and you're wanting to take it away," she yelled. "People out there are committing child abuse all the time and getting their kids back."

She continued, sobbing and stumbling over her words, "It would be easier to chop my head off than take away my kids!"

Battershell offered to give her a moment to compose herself, and after several minutes, McDaniel told Battershell if she can't have her children, she wants her father to raise them. He loves them, and would protect them, she said.

McDaniel guaranteed Battershell that no one "would look cross-eyed at my children without me tearing their head off." She said if someone "smacked my son, I'd kill 'im. Flat out honest," she said.

Battershell stopped McDaniel's nearly 15-minute tirade after she called a family member an - - - hole, and asked if she had any reason he should not pronounce sentence. An exhausted and slouching McDaniel, with her head hanging barely inches above the table, pleaded with Battershell, "I don't plan on hurting anyone."

Battershell pointed out to McDaniel that all the time during her statement, "You never once said you were sorry for what happened to Johnathon."

Battershell told McDaniel she is responsible for Johnathon's smashed skull. He said a prison sentence "is appropriate and necessary."

Battershell said probation, which is what McDaniel's attorney recommended, would diminish the seriousness of the crime.

Battershell sentenced McDaniel to seven to 10 years, making her eligible, with good behavior, for parole after 31/2 years. With good behavior, McDaniel will have completed her complete sentence in five years.

Battershell credited McDaniel for 37 days already spent in jail.

The judge continued, "Your children will not be returned to you under any circumstance."

McDaniel's bond was revoked and she was turned over to Sheriff D. Bryan Leggott.

Battershell granted McDaniel's request that Conner not represent her in the event of an appeal and that a new attorney be appointed.