KALEAH CARSE - 10 weeks (2008) - Columbus OH

A South Side man was sentenced to 21 years in prison today for abusing his infant
daughter.
After deliberating for 12 hours, a Franklin County jury found Joshua Carse, 23, of Linwood
Avenue, guilty of three counts of child endangering. He was acquitted of felonious assault charges
and a fourth count of child endangering.
Common Pleas Court Judge John F. Bender gave Carse the maximum sentence for each count.
"If any case cried out for a maximum sentence, this does," he said.In July 2008, Carse's then 10-week-old daughter, Kaleah, was brought to Nationwide Children's
Hospital by her maternal grandmother, Lori Trembley.
Doctors said Kaleah suffered several broken bones, including fractured ribs and femurs snapped
off at the hips. They also found signs of malnutrition and brain atrophy.
During the trial, doctors testified that the injuries were indicative of abuse.
"When it includes a child, this is the most horrific crime," Bender said. "In a civilized
society, the highest duty is to protect its children."
Trembley, who is now Kaleah's guardian, shook and wept in the back of the courtroom.
Carse's mother, Sharon Carse, spoke on her son's behalf before he was sentenced.
"It's difficult for me to believe that this is justice, because my son would not inflict this
type of harm," she said. "He put his all into caring for his daughter."
Today, Kaleah is 16 months old. Despite a slight delay in walking ability, she is doing well,
said Doris Calloway Moore, spokeswoman for Franklin County Children Services.
Kaleah's mother, 19-year-old Marlo Trembley, is scheduled for trial on Sept.14. She faces one
count of permitting abuse and one count of child endangering.

The mother of a baby girl with two broken legs, cracked ribs and a
neck injury was found guilty yesterday of allowing the girl's father to
abuse her.
Marlo Trembley was 18 when she gave birth to Kaleah Carse on May 1,
2008. By June, prosecutors said, her live-in boyfriend, Joshua Carse,
had begun to abuse both Trembley and their child.
Columbus police officers, angered by X-rays that showed horrific abuse, charged both parents.
In September, Carse, 23, was sentenced to 21 years in prison by
Franklin County Judge John F. Bender. A jury found him guilty of three
counts of child endangering.
"If any case cried out for a maximum sentence, this does," Bender said then.
Yesterday, a separate jury found Trembley, now 19, guilty of
recklessly allowing Carse to harm their child. She was convicted of
child endangering and permitting child abuse.
Bender revoked Trembley's bond and set sentencing for Jan. 13.
She faces as many as five years in prison for each count.
Assistant County Prosecutors Megan Jewett and William Davies argued
that Trembley had the means to stop much of the abuse after she was
choked by Carse on two separate occasions.
Once, before she left for work, Trembley found Carse choking Kaleah, then 10 weeks old.
"Health-care workers in these situations always want to know
'Where's the mother?' " Jewett told jurors on Thursday. "She is right
here. Nobody knew domestic violence was going on in that house, and it
was her role to tell somebody."
But defense attorney Toure McCord argued that Trembley deserved
leniency and understanding as a first-time mother. He said records show
that she took the child to a clinic three times for wheezing and
inoculations before the fractures were discovered.
Abuse specialists at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that the
infant also suffered brain damage and was malnourished. Carse cared for
the child while Trembley worked, McCord said.
"You may not think she deserves 'mother of the year,' but she was
cooperative once she learned this was going on," McCord said. "She
kicked his ass out of the house" and gave police a detailed statement.
The child survived her injuries and is living with relatives, Jewett said.