The Columbia father, who said he accidentally dropped his baby girl and fractured her skull, was sentenced to 18 months in the Howard Detention Center.
David Scott Bauer, 36, pleaded guilty this week to second-degree child abuse and reckless endangerment in an incident that caused his 9-week-old daughter to stop breathing while he was watching her in August 2007.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped the first-degree child abuse charge, and Howard Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman sentenced Bauer to five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended and 138 days credited for time served on the reckless endangerment charge.
He could have faced up to 20 years in prison if he was given the maximum for each charge.
“I know and I have watched him with [our daughter] and believe with all of my heart that he would never hurt [her],” said Bauer’s wife, Stacy Bauer, in written testimony.
“He has to pay for dropping her the rest of his life.”
Bauer was caring for his daughter alone when he called 911, saying he accidentally dropped her after removing her from an exercise ring for infants.
He said he dropped her on her face, and she wasn’t breathing, prosecutors said.
After examining the baby, doctors determined the injuries were not consistent with Bauer’s story, but rather “non-accidental” and “abusive head trauma.”
The baby suffered a fractured skull, black eye and bloody nose. She was in a medical coma until doctors could stabilize her at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore City, according to charging documents.
Stacy Bauer said her daughter has recovered and is “doing all the things a healthy baby girl does.”
“The only thing that she is missing is her father. She needs him in her life as much as I do. We both miss him terribly and will be counting down the days until he is released,” she said in her testimony.
Bauer, who was charged with second-degree assault in 1994 and convicted of a handgun violation, will serve his sentence at the detention center as part of an addictions program.
He must attend alcohol treatment and parenting classes.
Following his release, he will be placed on five years of probation and is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors and vulnerable adults.
