Oregon parents of 1-year-old son Jacob are upset after charges were dropped in a lawsuit against his babysitter.
The lawsuit was dropped by the court because Jacob can’t explain what happened.
After leaving Jacob with a babysitter one day in March, Joshua Marbury and Alicia Quinney came home to find that their son had a black eye and bruising in his face, including a palm print.
The parents quickly took Jacob to a local hospital and contacted the police. The babysitter reportedly admitted to abusing the child after police questioning. According to Marbury, the police were sure the babysitter caused the bruising and said that one detective told him the babysitter confessed to hitting the child.
“I’m so extremely upset, it’s disturbing, on this little innocent baby,” Quinney said. “To think someone could do this to him.”
However, charges against the babysitter were dropped. The court cited a 2012 Oregon court of appeals ruling that stated a victim must be able to describe a reported attack. The couple is furious as a result of the ruling.
“It’s so disturbing that they can let somebody walk around and live their life while my whole family is traumatized from this,” Quinney said.
Marbury expressed his disgust at the ruling in a Facebook post that quickly went viral after over 275,000 people shared it. He wrote the following:
“TWO months ago if not longer my 1 year old son was smacked across the right side of his face by our babysitter (keep this person anonymous) to the point where MULTIPLE doctors (who in fact showed us hand prints) and the detective said it could have killed him.
“After several days if not week of being distracted at my job (only commission sales job and only source of income) we had a confession from the abuser saying they did it. STILL this person was not arrested because they had to build a case and a jury to find him guilty BEFORE they go to jail.
“Side note if im not mistaken (if i strike a person in the face and the cops were called i would be put in hand cuffs immediately). After TWO months of waiting we only find out that charges are dropped BECAUSE my one year old cannot tell you verbally he was abused and my son did not show he was in pain OR that this person “intentionally” did this. I am SO furious that im not using profanity HOPING something is done and this goes viral.”
Though Jacob has physically recovered from the reported attack, Quinney says the scars remain.
“He definitely recovered from the bruises, but inside, this is gonna follow him,” Quinney said.
The couple expressed concerns about allowing anyone to babysit their child again as a result of Jacob’s injuries. Marbury said that the babysitter, who used to be his best friend, attempted to cover up the abuse with several lies and, even after admitting to the crime, got away with it.
“It doesn’t make sense that someone can go strike a dog and witnesses see it, that’s enough proof, but if you strike a baby…” Marbury said. “I don’t understand why this law is in effect.”
For her part, Quinney expressed a desire to work to see the 2012 ruling changed, as she believes it creates a loophole for child abusers.