The dimly lit Cowlitz County jail courtroom was silent as presiding Judge Thad Scudder accepted the guilty plea of a Longview man Wednesday morning whose — as Scudder put it —”reckless act” led to the death of a 2-month-old infant.
Behind plexiglass and dark green bars, 25-year-old Longview resident Randall Kane Kearns wiped tears from his swollen eyes and rocked back and forth as he heard the mother of his child give a statement during his sentencing hearing.
“I will never forgive him,” said Alexis Ann Meirndorf, who added that after withdrawing life-support, her son smiled at her one last time before his heart stopped beating.
Kearns, who was charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter for the death of his son, was sentenced to 7.5 years in state prison and three years of community custody. He initially faced the possibility of 78 to 102 months or even a life sentence.
As a result of pleading guilty, Kearns received a strike offense; if he obtains two more, he could be sentenced to a life sentence.
In a low monotone voice Kearns said, “I take responsibility.”
According to the probable cause statement, Kearns told officers that on Feb. 13, he left his infant son unattended in the middle of a king-size bed and went to the bathroom. When he returned, the 2-month-old was on the floor.
Kearns said he believes his other child pulled the infant off the bed.
As the interview continued, Kearns cried at times and became less consolable, the report states, and eventually told police his infant son cried for hours after the tumble.
Frustrated, Kearns said he picked up the infant by the waist and flung the child with enough force that his face hit Kearns’s shoulder. As his child continued to cry, Kearns said he “slammed” the baby on the bed, aggressively picked him up without supporting his head, and slammed the child back on bed, states the report.
While the infant continued to wail, Kearns grabbed a car seat, placed it on the bed, and “threw” the baby in the car seat, with such ferocity that both the seat and the child landed on the floor, the report continues.
The baby died on Feb. 26, after his mother withdrew life-support.
In the first interview with police, Meirndorf said her son was normal when she left for work and during lunch. When she returned home, she described her son making a “grunting” noise at about 6:30 p.m., and at around 9 p.m., she attempted to feed him, but he wouldn’t wake and demanded Kearns take them to the hospital.
A Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office said the infant died as a result of blunt-force trauma to the head, according to the report.
A PeaceHealth St. John physician also told police the infant suffered multiple injuries in different parts of his brain, had both new and old brain bleeding, injuries around his neck, lumbar, and bleeding around his cervical as well as lumbar spine.
In her statement to the court, Meirndorf said what remains now is a ghostly void as she will never witness her baby grow.
“I will never see my baby walk ... first steps,” she said.
