"Baby Jane Doe" - 4 Months - Reno NV

A young Reno mother-of-two on Christmas Eve had left her infant son in
the care of her boyfriend so she could run a quick errand.
From the couch where William Arthur Miskelly was playing a video
game, he could hear the 4-month-old crying. “Shut the
(expletive) up!” Miskelly yelled across the room, said Deputy District
Attorney Elliott Sattler.When the child did not stop,
Miskelly’s rage grew as his video game playing continued to be
interrupted by the cries.So he picked up the baby and
tightly gripped him around his rib cage. He then violently shook him for
about one minute, he told police. During the shaking, the baby’s head
whipped back and forward. Miskelly told detectives he then threw the
baby on the bed and continued yelling. Suddenly, the child’s eyes rolled
back in its head and began suffering a seizure. He immediately suffered
damage to his eyes and vision.For causing unknown
permanent brain damage to the infant, Washoe District Court Judge Brent
Adams on Friday sentenced Miskelly up to five years in prison. The
26-year-old will be eligible for parole after serving a year and a half.
Miskelly pleaded guilty in February to child abuse
causing substantial injury.“The difficulty in this case is
that the child’s (permanent) injuries are unknown,” Sattler said,
adding the baby has been placed in foster care. “This wasn’t a simple
injury resulting from someone losing their temper. He picked up a
helpless infant and shook him.”Miskelly asked Adams for
probation. So did the baby’s young mother, who said she wanted him to
undergo counseling. She told Adams that doctors said there is a 15
percent chance the boy will become mentally retarded, and will likely
suffer behavior and problem-solving difficulties as a result of the
shaking.“I know the urge to shake,” the woman said. “I’ve
been upset, but I’ve never shaken. But I’ve felt like it before. I don’t
understand taking the actual step to do it.”Had her son’s
injuries been worse, she said she would have demanded prison.“I
can’t put it in words,” Miskelly told Adams. “I’ve been thinking about
it my entire time (in jail).”