Published: October 29, 2009 11:37 pm         

Enid man arraigned in felony child abuse case

An Enid man was bound over for arraignment on a felony child abuse case Thursday following a short preliminary hearing.

Special District Judge Paul Woodward heard testimony from two witnesses about the abuse of then 1-month-old Dalton Harger before ordering Shawn L. Harger, 36, bound over of the child abuse charge.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Fields called Lilly Venable, the boy’s mother, and Enid Police Department Detective Tim Doyle.

Doyle testified he and Detective Sgt. Dustin Albright interviewed Venable and Harger the evening of Jan. 20 at OU Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, where the boy had been taken for treatment.

Doyle said Harger told them he was caring for the boy while Venable was at the store and the boy began to cry. Doyle said Harger told them when the boy did not stop crying he fixed him a bottle and then tried to burp him. Harger told them he had been stressed about his job and became frustrated by the boy’s crying.

“He said he became up-set,” Doyle said, “had become frustrated with him.”

Doyle said Harger told him he grabbed the boy by the midsection and was bouncing him. Harger also said there was a ledge behind the couch where he was sitting and Dalton’s head may have been hitting the ledge. Doyle said Harger eventually said he shook the crying boy.

“His exact words were, ‘I shook him pretty hard,’” Doyle said. “He told us he stopped shaking him because Dalton was lifeless. That was his exact wording. ‘Lifeless’”

Doyle said Harger told him and Albright he put the boy back down to bed before Venable arrived home.

Fields asked Doyle if he or Albright questioned Harger about his feelings.

“I believe he told me he was scared,” Doyle said. “He didn’t want to tell her (Venable) what had happened.”

Venable testified she had slept most of the day Jan. 15 after seeing Harger off to work. She said when Harger returned, she went to her father’s house for about 30 minutes, returned home for about five minutes and then went to the grocery store for about an hour.

Fields asked Venable how the boy was when she returned from the store and Harger handed her Dalton.

“By the time he handed him to me, he was breathing funny,” she said. “He had shallow breathing and was kind of gasping for air.”

Venable said she and Harger took Dalton to the emergency room at Integris Bass Baptist Health Center, and the boy was later transferred to Oklahoma City. When asked by Fields, she said the boy stayed at the hospital for two weeks.

“He had two skull fractures, two fractured tibias, a fractured femur and retinal hemorrhaging,” she said.

Harger’s court-appointed attorney, Brian Lovell, asked Venable if anything had happened to Dalton to cause him any injury prior to Jan. 15.

Venable said two or three days before she had fallen asleep on the couch with Dalton lying on her stomach and the boy rolled off. She said she thought the boy might have struck his head on the coffee table in the fall.

Fields asked Venable if she was sure Dalton hit his head.

“I am almost sure that he did,” she said.

Fields asked if there were any visible injuries to the boy and Venable said there were not. She said the boy cried for about five minutes after he fell.

Harger has been held in lieu of $250,000 bond since his arrest Jan. 27. He faces up to life in prison and no less than a year in county jail if convicted of the charge.