Third District Judge Sheila McCleve said when she read police and medical reports about what happened to a 3-year-old girl last January it "sounds like torture."
She then went on to sentence one of the two adults involved to prison.
Derrick Lee Crispin, 30, was sentenced to up to five years in prison for child abuse/neglect and obstruction of justice, both third-degree felonies. McCleve ordered that the sentences run concurrently and gave Crispin credit for time served.
Police reports said the child had 50 cuts on both hands, seven broken bones in her left hand and five broken bones in her right hand, and severe swelling and irritation of both eyes that made doctors fear for her eyesight.
Prosecutor Angela Micklos later said the girl is now with her biological father and her eyesight is fine, but she has scarring on her hands, and no one knows what psychological effects might emerge in the future.
The injuries occurred in January at the condominium that Crispin shared with the child's mother, Amy Ellen Roberts, 31, near 800 East and 3950 South.
Roberts was sentenced last month to a year in jail after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony, and class A misdemeanor child abuse/neglect.
Crispin's lawyer, Earl Xaiz, told the judge that both adults were involved in trying to get pus out of swelling in the girl's hands that resulted in her injuries and he asked that Crispin receive a jail sentence like the one McCleve gave Roberts.
Xaiz said he was not making excuses for his client but noted that Crispin's doctor had prescribed 30 milligrams of OxyContin to be taken three times daily, in addition to 3 milligrams of Percocet and another medication.
"When one reads all the police reports and medical reports, one wonders, 'Why, why, why? What could they be thinking?"' Xaiz said. "I believe Mr. Crispin was in a fog."
Xaiz said the two adults had taken the girl to the hospital previously and there were suggestions the child had cellulitis, or an infection in the skin tissue.
The mother had held the child's hands while Crispin tried to suck the pus out, Xaiz said. They then put iodine on the girl's hands, she touched her eyes and iodine got into her eyes.
"I am sorry," Crispin said. "I made some really bad decisions. I wish (the child) could be here so I could say I'm sorry to her. I miss her. It wasn't intentional and I should have known better than to try to play doctor."
McCleve said she felt bad for the child, the situation and Crispin, but "every time I read what happened, it just sounds like torture." The judge said she could not see why anyone would continue behavior that resulted in injuries like those the child endured.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com