May 24, 2012
Contact: [email protected]
. Branden Newton pled guilty today in Anderson General Sessions Court to Unlawful Conduct toward a Child. The Honorable Alex Macaulay sentenced Newton to 10 years suspended to 6 months home incarceration and 5 years probation. Newton will be placed on the Child Abuse Central Registry.
On April 21, 2010, EMS responded to 119 Jacob Road in Anderson to a call regarding an injured 5-month old baby. Branden Newton told responders that the child had fallen off the couch onto a carpeted floor. The defendant refused EMS transport to the hospital, but later admitted the child to AnMed Hospital. X-rays revealed 2 separate skull fractures as well as partially healed fractures from two prior incidents. Once confronted by investigators that skull fractures do not occur from a fall from a couch, Newton changed his story and claimed that the infant fell from a counter in the kitchen onto a linoleum floor. A child abuse expert who examined the child stated that the skull fractures this infant received would also not result from a fall from a kitchen counter.
SLED was called in to investigate the case since Newton was employed as a 911 dispatcher for Anderson County. The infant was examined by a child abuse expert in Columbia who stated that the injuries the child had sustained were consistent with abuse and that these injuries would not have resulted from either a fall from a couch or from a fall from a kitchen counter.
“The abuse Mr. Newton inflicted upon this helpless infant, coupled with his repeated attempts to cover up the truth in order to avoid responsibility when confronted by law enforcement, are reprehensible,” stated Solicitor Chrissy Adams. “We are very disappointed in today’s sentence. The defendant’s actions called for an active prison sentence as the State requested.”