80s_Fan
03-13-2008, 04:00 PM
:mad:
Dad Put Baby In Microwave For Protection
POSTED: 11:53 am CDT March 13, 2008
UPDATED: 12:54 pm CDT March 13, 2008
GALVESTON, Texas -- An Arkansas man who claims he was insane when he injured his infant daughter placed her in a microwave oven to keep himself from harming the 2-month-old, his attorney told jurors Thursday.
Joshua Mauldin has been accused of placing his daughter, Ana, in a Galveston hotel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds and turning it on last May. He is also accused of punching the baby and putting her in a refrigerator and a hotel-room safe.
Mauldin has a history of mental illness and put the infant in the safe, refrigerator and microwave to keep from harming her because he was hallucinating, said his defense attorney, Sam Cammack III.
Cammack said Mauldin has been hearing voices since he was 10 and has been "wracked by psychosis, bipolar (disorder), major severe depressive disorder, schizophrenia."
Cammack said Mauldin heard voices telling him to kill his parents when he was 13 years old.
"Joshua Mauldin goes to his mother and he says, 'Mommy, I'm hearing voices and they're telling me to kill you and daddy,'" Cammack said.
Just before the infant was harmed, Mauldin, who is very religious, started hallucinating, thinking about a strip club, feeling a white hot burning sensation in his stomach and then feeling like "mud was running up his body and consuming him," Cammack told jurors during opening statements at Mauldin's trial.
"He places her in the microwave and says, 'I saw what was happening but I couldn't do anything about it.' Then he stops and says, 'Oh my goodness. My child is in the microwave.' He pulls her out," Cammack said.
But Galveston County prosecutor Xochitl Vandiver told jurors Mauldin was not insane. Vandiver said he hurt the child because he couldn't stop her from crying.
"He feels agitated. He just wants to get out of there. The baby is fussy," Vandiver said. "In the middle of hurting his child, he stopped, went to the hotel room door and he locked it. And that was to prevent his wife who was downstairs from coming in. And that shows you he knows what he was doing was wrong."
Mauldin lied to authorities about what happened to his daughter, telling different stories that never matched the child's severe injuries, she said.
Ana, who had her first birthday last week, was hospitalized for 11 days with burns on her hands and face and required two skin grafts. Part of her left ear was also amputated.
Mauldin, 20, is facing a felony charge of injury to a child with a sentencing range from probation to life in prison if convicted.
Since his arrest, he has been held at the Galveston County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Mauldin's wife, Eva, blamed Satan for her husband's actions, saying the devil disapproved of his efforts to become a preacher in Galveston. Mauldin, along with his wife and mother, had just moved to Galveston, located about 50 miles southeast of Houston, from Warren, Ark., when Ana was injured.
Prosecutors have said they plan to challenge Mauldin's insanity defense by highlighting his criminal history, including stealing a handgun from his baby sitter when he was 13 and being discharged from the Army after a court-martial conviction for stealing another soldier's laptop.
Another trial is scheduled for April, when Child Protective Services will try to terminate the Mauldins' parental rights.
CPS officials said Ana is still receiving treatment but is doing well and living with relatives in Texas.
:mad:
Dad Put Baby In Microwave For Protection
POSTED: 11:53 am CDT March 13, 2008
UPDATED: 12:54 pm CDT March 13, 2008
GALVESTON, Texas -- An Arkansas man who claims he was insane when he injured his infant daughter placed her in a microwave oven to keep himself from harming the 2-month-old, his attorney told jurors Thursday.
Joshua Mauldin has been accused of placing his daughter, Ana, in a Galveston hotel microwave for 10 to 20 seconds and turning it on last May. He is also accused of punching the baby and putting her in a refrigerator and a hotel-room safe.
Mauldin has a history of mental illness and put the infant in the safe, refrigerator and microwave to keep from harming her because he was hallucinating, said his defense attorney, Sam Cammack III.
Cammack said Mauldin has been hearing voices since he was 10 and has been "wracked by psychosis, bipolar (disorder), major severe depressive disorder, schizophrenia."
Cammack said Mauldin heard voices telling him to kill his parents when he was 13 years old.
"Joshua Mauldin goes to his mother and he says, 'Mommy, I'm hearing voices and they're telling me to kill you and daddy,'" Cammack said.
Just before the infant was harmed, Mauldin, who is very religious, started hallucinating, thinking about a strip club, feeling a white hot burning sensation in his stomach and then feeling like "mud was running up his body and consuming him," Cammack told jurors during opening statements at Mauldin's trial.
"He places her in the microwave and says, 'I saw what was happening but I couldn't do anything about it.' Then he stops and says, 'Oh my goodness. My child is in the microwave.' He pulls her out," Cammack said.
But Galveston County prosecutor Xochitl Vandiver told jurors Mauldin was not insane. Vandiver said he hurt the child because he couldn't stop her from crying.
"He feels agitated. He just wants to get out of there. The baby is fussy," Vandiver said. "In the middle of hurting his child, he stopped, went to the hotel room door and he locked it. And that was to prevent his wife who was downstairs from coming in. And that shows you he knows what he was doing was wrong."
Mauldin lied to authorities about what happened to his daughter, telling different stories that never matched the child's severe injuries, she said.
Ana, who had her first birthday last week, was hospitalized for 11 days with burns on her hands and face and required two skin grafts. Part of her left ear was also amputated.
Mauldin, 20, is facing a felony charge of injury to a child with a sentencing range from probation to life in prison if convicted.
Since his arrest, he has been held at the Galveston County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
Mauldin's wife, Eva, blamed Satan for her husband's actions, saying the devil disapproved of his efforts to become a preacher in Galveston. Mauldin, along with his wife and mother, had just moved to Galveston, located about 50 miles southeast of Houston, from Warren, Ark., when Ana was injured.
Prosecutors have said they plan to challenge Mauldin's insanity defense by highlighting his criminal history, including stealing a handgun from his baby sitter when he was 13 and being discharged from the Army after a court-martial conviction for stealing another soldier's laptop.
Another trial is scheduled for April, when Child Protective Services will try to terminate the Mauldins' parental rights.
CPS officials said Ana is still receiving treatment but is doing well and living with relatives in Texas.
:mad: