CASSIE HOPKINS - 3 yo (2011)/ Convicted: Father; Christopher Lane Hopkins - San Antonio TX

A San Antonio father was arrested Monday night in connection with the death of his disabled daughter.
According to San Antonio police, Christopher Hopkins left his
2-year-old unattended in a bath tub while he watched a pornographic
movie. The child drowned. Now, SAPD is holding him criminally
responsible.
Hopkins is charged with injury to a child-serious bodily injury. He is trying to make a $50,000 bond.
According to an arrest warrant, police responded to the 12600 Uhr
Lane on March 12 for a child who was found not breathing. Police said
Cassie Hopkins was taken to Northeast Baptist Hospital where she died
the next day.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death an
accidental drowning. However, police believe there was enough evidence
to warrant criminal charges.
The warrant indicates Hopkins' wife had gone to the store. Cassie was
left at home with her 29-year-old father, police said. He reportedly
put her in a bath tub without any supervision, according to the arrest
document.
According to the suspect, he checked on his daughter after five
minutes. He alleged Cassie was playing in the tub's water. Then, 10
minutes later things had taken a horrific turn. Hopkins said he found
the disabled toddler floating in the tub. She was not breathing
said police.
The warrant said Cassie had Angelman Syndrome. It's a neuro-genetic
disorder often mistaken for cerebral palsy. Police said the two-year-old
was mentally handicapped, could not walk, had speech deficiencies, and
prone to seizures. Her father tried to perform CPR on the toddler to no
avail.
Police said Hopkins claimed he had left the child unattended in the
tub before with no bad results. He also told them he had stepped out to
watch television and drink a beer.
However, the warrant said the father later made a tearful sounding
call to detectives. Police said he made a startling admission.
Hopkins allegedly told police he was in another room watching
pornography while his daughter drowned in the tub. The warrant said he
had hidden the movie from his wife. Police said he locked himself in the
bedroom, his disabled toddler was unsupervised in the bathroom, and he
had other children in the living room.
The father thought he had pulled the plastic plug in the tub to drop
the water level, police said. Initially, Hopkins told investigators he
found the water up to the child's chest. Investigators said the water
never drained. The next time Hopkins checked on the child his private
gratification had evolved into full blown terror.
According to the arrest warrant, the parents have an open
investigation with Child Protective Services for neglect on allegations
involving child supervision.
http://www.kens5.com/news/Father-watching-porn-blamed-in-disabled-toddlers-drowning-118425139.html

Father sentenced for tub drowning attributed to porn

By Craig Kapitan  
February 7, 2013  
Updated: February 7, 2013 9:32pm

A father whose disabled 3-year-old daughter drowned in the bathtub after he left her unattended so he could watch porn was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

Christopher Lane Hopkins, 31, was arrested in March 2011, days after he called 911 reporting that he had found Cassie Hopkins floating face-down and unresponsive in the tub.

His 12-year-old stepdaughter, one of five children in the Northeast Side apartment, aided him in administering CPR, which she had learned months earlier in school, authorities said. The child never revived.

Investigators found the dirty tub drained, with a plastic plate, pacifier and empty Gatorade bottle inside.

Hopkins initially told authorities only that he was watching TV during the bath and that he had left her alone about 10 minutes.

However, his story changed a day later, explaining that he was actually masturbating in his locked bedroom when the drowning occurred.

“Christopher said he was watching a pornographic movie called 'Barely Legal' while Cassie was in the bathtub,” Detective Randy Jones noted in court documents. “He said it was bothering him so much he wanted to come in and talk to me (again).”

Cassie, an Indiana native who would have turned 5 this month, was born with Angelman syndrome — a cerebral palsy-like handicap that left her unable to walk or talk and with the motor skills of a 1-year-old.

Child Protective Services had opened an investigation and temporarily taken custody of the children two months earlier, after Cassie had a seizure — a symptom of the syndrome — while the family was living at a motel. She was nourished and had no signs of abuse at the time of death, her autopsy noted.

Hopkins was charged with reckless injury to a child by omission causing serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Under terms of a plea agreement reached in January, prosecutors Meli Carrion and Katie Magee agreed to ask for a 15-year term, with the defense requesting deferred adjudication probation.

“He feels beyond remorse for what happened,” defense attorney Brian Hammer told state District Judge Lori Valenzuela, adding that his client has two jobs and a minimal prior criminal record.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Father-sentenced-for-tub-drowning-attributed-to-4261172.php