"Toddler John" FLICK - 2 yo (2007) - Somerset (SE of Pittsburgh) PA

Jason Ray Flick smiled in a Somerset
County courtroom Wednesday after being sentenced for torturing his
infant son.

He was sentenced to serve 17 to 35 years in a state
prison for eight months of child abuse. The 29-year-old Somerset
resident has never relented in his assessment that he did nothing wrong.
He chose to say nothing at his sentencing.



President Judge John
M. Cascio, however, had something to say.

“These cases are always
tragic because they involve a child — a defenseless child,” Cascio
said. “It is made more severe where there is a long period of time and
it involved numerous incidents.”

The charges arose out of a dozen
abusive incidents initiated by Flick after he moved in with the boy and
his mother at Village Way in December 2006.

It ended on Sept.
30, 2007, when the boy, then 2, was rushed to the emergency room at
Somerset Hospital by Flick and the boy’s mother, Rogi Spangler. He was
later flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh where he was diagnosed
with a broken thigh bone, damaged liver and pancreas, and a fractured
skull.

The toddler was placed in foster care for 10 months after
he was released from the hospital. He is now with his mother.

Flick
was charged Dec. 14, 2007, with one count of aggravated assault, 13
counts of endangering the welfare of children, eight counts of simple
assault, a count of furnishing alcohol to a minor and 11 counts of
recklessly endangering another person. He has been incarcerated in
Somerset County Jail.

He was found guilty of aggravated assault,
six counts of simple assault, 12 counts of endangering the welfare of
children, six counts of recklessly endangering another person and one
count of furnishing alcohol to minors after a three-day trial.

The
jury acquitted Flick of one count of simple assault, one count of
endangering the welfare of children and three counts of recklessly
endangering another person. Cascio also acquitted Flick of two counts of
recklessly endangering another person and one count of simple assault
after the prosecution presented its case-in-chief.

Throughout the
three-day trial former neighbors and friends of Flick’s testified that
they witnessed horrific moments when he interacted with the toddler.

Abuses
they testified to witnessing included that he repeatedly shot the young
boy with pellets from an air gun, forced his mouth open with such force
as to leave fingerprints on the boy’s face and poured hot sauce down
his throat, wrapped a live snake around his neck as he screamed and drew
phallic symbols and derogatory words on the boy’s face and body.
Witnesses testified that Flick laughed in response to his child’s
distress. Most of the witnesses, including the boy’s mother, testified
that they did not go to authorities because they were afraid of Flick.

On
Wednesday Cascio said: “You treated this child like an object — by your
statements, by your actions. “No human deserves this kind of
treatment.”

Flick’s defense attorney, Edward Terry Iseman,
acknowledged that the boy was psychologically harmed by these incidents;
however, he said, “He is alive, he is well and he is robust” when he
asked Cascio to follow the probation department’s recommendation to
sentence Flick in the standard range.

Assistant District Attorney
Carolann Young requested a harsher sentence in the aggravated range.

She
told the court that the boy is in therapy because he is angry, hits his
little sister, hits his mother and throws toys at the wall.

“Every
day that little boy punishes himself,” she said.

She said she
was requesting the harsher sentence because the victim was Flick’s son
whom he tortured during nearly half of the boy’s life, there were so
many incidents of abuse and Flick had shown no remorse nor admitted any
responsibility.

Cascio chose to sentence Flick within the
standard range, which he said was severe regardless of any
recommendation for more.

“It is clear from testimony (at the
trial) that these actions of severe abuse committed against a 2-year-old
— your son — causing severe physical and mental abuse that a long time
of incarceration is appropriate,” he said.

“My hope is this child
eventually gets beyond here and my hope is that you take
responsibility,” he said.

In an unrelated case, Flick faces a
charge of intimidating a witness. The case is scheduled for the August
criminal trial term in county court.