Father Sentenced to Year in Jail for Blinding Baby

Despite a plea from the mother of a baby boy blinded by his father, a Ventura County Superior Court judge ruled out a possible prison term Tuesday for the child’s father and sentenced him to one year in County Jail.

Don Ray Boyd, 22, also was sentenced to five years’ probation for admittedly shaking his 3-month-old son, Jacob Payne, so hard last September that the child was left blind and brain-damaged.

“One unalterable fact remains,” Judge Allan Steele said. “The harm of injury done to this particular infant is truly devastating.”

Boyd could have been sentenced to as many as six years in prison and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine for the felony child abuse to which he pleaded guilty last month.

But the judge, defense attorney and prosecuting attorney all agreed that prison is not the right place for Boyd, whose IQ of 67 places him within the range of being developmentally disabled.

“The defendant’s actions were probably taken out of ignorance and manifestations of his own mental deficiency rather than meanness, so I don’t think state prison is necessary,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley said.

Steele said he considered Boyd’s mental deficiencies as well as the facts that Boyd is youthful, has no prior criminal history and is expected to respond favorably to mental health care.

However, the judge did not follow a recommendation by the defense attorney and probation officer that Boyd be incarcerated for only 200 days. Instead, he increased the sentence to one year at the urging of the prosecution.

“We have a life destroyed just short of murder,” Frawley told the judge. “One year in County Jail seems appropriate.”

But Cynthia Payne, Jacob’s mother, believes that Boyd should “go to prison for what he has done,” according to a court report by Probation Officer Gina Alcala.

“My visits with Jacob are so different than when he was first born,” Payne wrote in a letter to Steele. “I feel as though someone has changed babies on me when I wasn’t looking.

“I had so many hopes and dreams for when Jacob got older. Now those dreams will never come true.”

The baby, who is 11 months old, is in a foster home, and Payne is enrolled in a program to learn how to care for him, the report said.

Jacob, who undergoes physical therapy two or three times a week, is now able to sit up and to babble. Authorities said the extent of brain damage has not yet been determined.

Given credit for time already served and good behavior, Boyd could complete his sentence on Nov. 8. Under the terms of his probation, Boyd is forbidden to contact Jacob without court approval. He cannot associate with children under the age of 6 unless he is monitored by responsible adults.

Boyd also will be required to enter treatment programs run by the county mental health department and a private organization that offers services for abusive parents.

According to court records, the injuries occurred at a Ventura residence where Boyd and Payne were house-sitting. On the morning of Sept. 27, while Payne was at work, Boyd became frustrated at the baby’s crying, according to a statement that he gave to the probation officer.

“I couldn’t handle it,” Boyd told the probation officer. Boyd picked up the child under the arms and shook him for about 30 seconds, yelling, “Hey, come on, Jacob, please stop crying,” he told the officer.

The baby stopped crying but began to make an irritating whimper. Boyd said he realized something was wrong and now realizes that he should have sought help.

When Payne returned home later, Boyd said, he told her that something was wrong with the child. Payne went to a neighbor, who drove her and the baby to Ventura County Medical Center. The child was later airlifted to Childrens Hospital in Los Angeles.

Doctors there found blood on the brain and said the retinas of Jacob’s eyes had detached from the optic nerve. From his symptoms they recognized classic signs of a shaken infant, authorities 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 rearrested in New Hampshire in mid-March, pleading guilty shortly before the scheduled start of his trial.

Boyd’s current girlfriend, Crystal Root, 20, was in the courtroom Tuesday and said she thinks the yearlong jail term is unjust.

Root, who is planning to marry Boyd and have him adopt her 18-month-old daughter, said Jacob Payne’s injuries were an accident.

In his statement to probation officials, Boyd also said he had never meant to injure Jacob.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him, no intention to hurt him at all,” he told the probation officer.

“Kind of wish I was blind too,” he added.