"Jane" KLEMAN - 3 months - Fond du Lac WI

A jury has found a 25-year-old Fond du Lac man guilty of causing brain damage to his 3-month-old daughter.
The victim in the case turned 1 year old on Wednesday, the same day her
father, Max A. Kleman, was found guilty of recklessly causing great
harm through child abuse.Fond du Lac County Circuit Court Judge Peter Grimm will sentence Kleman at a date to be scheduled.He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.On
Dec. 15, 2008, authorities were called to the East Second Street home
of Kelly Duignan and Kleman for a report of a baby not breathing.
Authorities found the child with a heartbeat and shallow breathing,
according to the criminal complaint.Detective Mike Mueller testified that Kleman gave two conflicting stories to police.Kleman said he gently bounced the child on his knee, the baby went limp, he
placed her on the floor and then went to get the mother from a
different section of the home, Mueller testified during a preliminary
hearing in the case.Kleman
later told Mueller he was carrying the baby without supporting her head
and sat down quickly on the couch, causing her head to hit his shoulder
bone. Kleman then brought the child in front of him quickly and saw her
head snap back, and the child soon went limp, said Mueller.Fond
du Lac County Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Tenerelli said the
child has a permanent feeding tube, limited sight and experiences
delays."She
can't sit up, she can't walk, she can't crawl, she can't talk,"
Tenerelli said. "She has shunts in her brain to release the fluid that
builds up around her brain."Some
of Tenerelli's witnesses were Dr. Thomas Valvano, who at the time of
the injuries was a child abuse pediatrician at Children's Hospital of
Wisconsin; Ibis Kinnart, a social worker at Children's Hospital; and
Duignan.Valvano expounded on prior statements he made that when the child arrived at
the hospital, she was suffering hemorrhaging around the eyes that is
only seen in abusive head damage cases and that tests done while saving
the child showed the brain damage occurred shortly before the child
arrived at the hospital.Defense attorney Kirk Everson called Dr. John Plunkett, a Minnesota
pathologist, to testify the damage suffered by the victim could not be
caused by the alleged acts.Everson did not respond to a call for comments by deadline Wednesday night.Tenerelli said there is a public misconception that there is a controversy about
abusive head trauma cases in the medical community."The
controversy is in the legal community," Tenerelli said. "It's experts
like Dr. Plunkett who go across the country and testify that there is
no such thing that makes the controversy. But really, in the medical
field, the medical profession — pediatrics (and) critical care
specialists — there is such a thing as abusive head injury. They do
have the research backing it up. They have seen numerous cases of it."Tenerelli said Plunkett testified that dozens of doctors agree with him while thousands disagree with his findings."Clearly,
this jury in Fond du Lac didn't buy Dr. Plunkett's arguments because
they found the defendant guilty," Tenerelli said. "I am very happy with
that."