Man Admits Blinding Infant Son

A Ventura man accused of blinding his infant son pleaded guilty Friday to felony child abuse.

With his new plea, Don Ray Boyd, 22, admitted that he shook 3-month-old Jacob Payne so violently that the retinas of the eyes detached, causing irreversible blindness.

Boyd had pleaded not guilty to the charge last month and his trial was scheduled to begin June 24. The guilty plea came after his attorney, Joseph VillaSana, met privately with Ventura County Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele and Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley.

Neither side would say whether Steele made any commitments regarding Boyd’s sentencing, scheduled for July 9. Boyd faces a maximum term of seven years in prison and fines of up to $16,000.

In an unusual move, VillaSana asked the judge to schedule an hour for the sentencing hearing so he could present several witnesses.

Boyd said nothing Friday except to answer “yes” several times when Frawley asked Boyd if he understood the rights he was surrendering by pleading guilty. Boyd’s sister had been in court earlier, but his proceeding was delayed and she had left by the time Boyd’s case was called.

According to testimony at a preliminary hearing last month, the injuries occurred at a Ventura residence where Boyd and the baby’s mother, Cynthia Payne, were house-sitting. On the morning of Sept. 27, while Payne was at work, Boyd became frustrated with the child’s crying, according to his statement to district attorney’s investigator Harvey Taylor.

“He admitted to shaking the baby for 20 to 30 seconds because he had cried all morning and would not stop crying,” Taylor said.

When Payne arrived home about 6 p.m., she found her son limp and apparently sleeping, Taylor said. She took him to a neighbor, who rushed the child to a Ventura hospital. Later, the baby was airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles.

Doctors there said Jacob was “a classic example of a shaken infant,” Taylor said. They found blood on the brain and said the retinas of the eyes had detached from the optic nerve. Such damage usually cannot be repaired, physicians said.

Boyd was arrested that night but was released a short time later because investigators lacked enough evidence to charge him. He stayed in touch with authorities and was arrested again in mid-March.

Boyd’s guilty plea Friday does not apply to a separate misdemeanor count of child abuse stemming from an allegation that he slapped the baby while attending the Ventura County Fair about a month earlier. Prosecutors routinely dismiss such charges upon sentencing when a defendant pleads guilty to a more serious count.

Boyd remains in jail with bail set at $15,000. Jacob has been placed with a foster family, officials said.