BANGOR, Maine — Editor's note: the above video aired on June 18, 2020.
A Dedham man was sentenced by District Court Judge Patrick Larson on Tuesday to nine years in prison with all but four years suspended after pleading guilty to beating a young child and causing permanent brain damage in May 2020.
As part of a plea agreement, Jason Brown, 24, pleaded guilty in Penobscot County Judicial Center to Class A felony aggravated assault on a child under six years of age.
He admitted to assaulting the two-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend with whom he was living in Orrington.
Under conditions of the plea agreement, a second charge of Class B aggravated assault was dismissed.
Brown was released Tuesday on conditions that he have no contact with relatives of the child, no unsupervised contact with children under 18 except at family events, and that he pay restitution of $3,215.22.
"We were pleased to get the case resolved to spare the victim and the family the stress and aggravation of a trial," said defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein.
According to the Penobscot County District Attorney's Office, expert witnesses Dr. Lawrence Ricci and Dr. Amy Movius would have testified that Brown inflicted a "non-accidental, catastrophic head injury that will leave [the child[ with permanent physical, intellectual and behavioral deficits, visual dysfunction, serious mobility dysfunction and cognitive dysfunction."
Despite Brown's initial claim that the child had fallen 3 1/2 feet, the witness would have said the child suffered a broken arm, was covered with bruises and what appeared to be adult bite marks, and other injuries consistent with battered child syndrome, the expert would have testified.
The child "lost half [their] brain and [their] cerebral cortex was severely damaged," the district attorney's office said in an email. "They will require rehab for the rest of [their] life."
He is scheduled to surrender on January 28.