A couple in Oregon is calling for changes to the legal system after learning that a babysitter who allegedly struck their infant son is unlikely to face prosecution.
Alicia Quinney and Joshua Marbury have taken to social media with their ordeal, calling for “justice” for their one-year-old son Jacob.
In a May 20 Facebook post that has gone viral, Marbury alleges his son was “smacked across the right side of his face” by a babysitter, who is not named in the post, in an incident that happened approximately two months ago.
In the post, which includes two photos of their son with red marks and bruises on his face, Marbury writes that multiple doctors and a police detective told them the smack could have killed their son.
According to local reports, police in Sherwood, Ore., where the family lives, believe the babysitter is responsible for Jacob’s injuries.
In the post, Marbury said they received a confession from the alleged abuser, but recently, they found out that he will not be prosecuted because Jacob “cannot tell you verbally he was abused and my son did not show he was in pain OR that this person ‘intentionally’ did this.”
Marbury’s Facebook post has since gone viral, racking up more than 370,000 shares in five days, and leading others to start an online petition calling for justice for Jacob.
According to the Change.org petition, a 2012 ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals “makes it difficult to file charges that involve victims who are unable to speak.” This may include infants, toddlers and people with disabilities that causes them to be non-verbal.
The goal of the petition is to ask the Supreme Court in Oregon to review the case and “reverse the law making it easier to convict child abusers.”
According to a report by KATU News posted online on May 22, the Washington County District Attorney’s Office said a final decision on whether charges will be filed has not been made, and that they are evaluating how the 2012 ruling would affect their ability to prosecute.
CTV News Legal Analyst Edward Prutschi said the case would not be handled in the same way in Canada.
“While crimes against infants pose evidentiary challenges for prosecutors when the child is too young to be a witness on their own behalf, there’s certainly no legal obligation that a baby stand up and speak in order for an abuser to be convicted,” Prutschi told CTVNews.ca.
Jacob’s extended family have started a GoFundMe fundraising page for Jacob’s family, in order to cover the costs of household expenses, counselling for Jacob’s sister Jaylynn and any future legal fees.