A Halfmoon teenage father who once wrote on social media that he was “going to snap” because of his child was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for breaking his infant son’s leg on Jan. 1, 2015.
Connor L. Ash, 20, of Coachman Square, was sentenced by Saratoga County Court Judge James A.Murphy III after being convicted at a trial in February of second-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Ash was convicted of intentionally breaking the right leg of his 3-month-old son on New Year’s Day at his Halfmoon residence. He was 19 at the time.
In addition to the prison sentence, the maximum for second-degree assault, Ash will have three years’ post-release supervision. Murphy also ordered him to have no contact with his victim son until 2031, when the boy will be 16.
During the 12-day jury trial, prosecutors introduced thousands of pages of Facebook messages in which Ash expressed negative feelings about the baby, who was 85 days old when he was injured. On Nov. 1, 2014, two months before the incident, prosecutors said he posted on Facebook: “I’m not fit to be a father … I get angry with him and I can’t stop … I don’t get frustrated, its [sic] skips straight to rage … I can’t control it … Someday I’m going to snap.”
Medical professionals testified at trial that the location and force of the injury indicated it had to have been done intentionally. The fracture was to the right femur — one of the strongest bones in the body. Witnesses compared the force necessary to that of a motor vehicle accident or four-story fall, prosecutors said.
Addressing the court, Assistant District Attorney Michele Schettino said Ash appeared to be more focused on social media than his son, even after the injury occurred and was reported to police.
While his son was at the hospital and he was being questioned by police, Ash continued to communicate with several women on Facebook, Schettino told the court. “Those communications were devoid and lacking any mention or concern about his son’s injuries,” District Attorney Karen A. Heggen said in a press release.
The case was investigated by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department after staff at the Ellis Emergent Care center in Clifton Park reported a suspicious injury. Heggen praised the Sheriff’s Department’s handling of the case.
Reach Gazette reporter Stephen Williams at 395-3086, [email protected] or @gazettesteve on Twitter.
Categories: -News-, Schenectady County
