Sentencing ends assault, abuse cases

A former Weatherford High School history teacher pled guilty Monday to a reduced charge of misdemeanor assault and battery against one of his female students and received a 90-day suspended sentence.
The former teacher was James Camden, 32. He was originally charged with sexual battery, a felony. The charge said the incident occurred between Aug. 20, 2016, and March 2, 2017.
District Attorney Angela Marsee, who was the prosecutor Monday, said the reduction to a misdemeanor and omission of the word sexual from the charge was the result of a plea agreement between her office and the defendant. She said it was also what the victim’s family wanted.
“We amended the charge after consulting with the victim and her family, and after considering all the facts and circumstances,” said Mrs. Marsee. “Ultimately we were interested in seeing that justice was served, and we believe that is what occurred in this case.”
She also said the victim and her family were present at the sentencing, which was done by Special District Judge Donna Dirickson.
“The agreement is what the family wanted us to do,” Marsee repeated. “It was agreed to by everyone involved.”
In another case finalized Monday, District Judge Doug Haught sentenced a young Weatherford father to 20 years in prison for “child abuse by injury.” That was the upper limit of a 15-to-20-year sentence recommended by a Custer County jury that found him guilty five weeks earlier.
Zachary King, 23, was the father. His daughter was two months old when the injuries occurred and had been born six weeks premature.
Doctors at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, to which the child was flown the night she was hurt after being seen first at Weatherford Regional Hospital, said her injuries included a large subdural hematoma on the right rear part of her head as well as an older bruise on her forehead and a fractured leg.
The father was keeping the child while his wife worked the night shift at a Weatherford pizza shop. He worked at the same shop but had a different shift so they could take turns caring for the infant. The father was the one who took her to the Weatherford hospital.
Medical personnel who saw her there indicated her head injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome. One of the physicians at Weatherford, Dr. Sarah Passmore, told a detective that the broken leg would have required excessive force but she and her cohorts could not determine the amount of force actually used.
Dr. Mark Lupe, the emergency room physician that night, testified to the jury that she was neither breathing nor moving and had no pulse when he first saw her. That was the night of Oct. 15, 2016.
Lt. Chris Cote, a Weatherford detective, told the Clinton Daily News during the two-day trial that the baby was still alive as he was speaking.
Judge Haught presided over the trial. Brooke Gatlin was the assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case.
Camden was originally charged in the sexual case based on the findings of an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent. The officer said the victim told him the teacher had brushed up against her arm with “his business,” an apparent reference to his genital area.
The suspect was suspended by the Weatherford School System in March of 2017.
At his sentencing it was brought out that he had surrendered his teaching license April 12 this year. He pled guilty to the reduced charge in advance of a preliminary hearing scheduled April 26. As part of the deal, he also was ordered to have no further contact with the victim or her family.