Parents Sentenced in Abuse of 3-Week-Old Baby

In a child abuse case one judge described as “beyond belief,” a Canyon Country couple has avoided trial on charges of attempting to murder their newborn son, by pleading no contest to lesser charges, authorities said.

With jury selection set to begin Tuesday in Van Nuys Superior Court, Carl J. Oliveri, 38, pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated mayhem and was sentenced to life in prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jaquelyn Lacey. He will be eligible for parole after serving seven years.

The baby’s mother, Sheila Jackman, 32, pleaded no contest Tuesday to two felony counts of child abuse and is awaiting sentencing. Lacey said the mother could be sent to prison for a maximum of seven years and four months, and be eligible for parole in less than four years.

The parents, both unemployed, were to be tried on nine felony counts, including attempted murder, torture and aggravated mayhem. The charges stemmed from injuries suffered by the infant and three other children, ages 2, 5 and 8. No abuse charges were filed for a fifth child.

Justin Oliveri was just 3 weeks old on Sept. 12, 1997, when Jackman and Oliveri took the baby to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, authorities said. When doctors there discovered a severe fracture of the infant’s skull, they notified sheriff’s investigators, who arrested Jackman at the hospital and Oliveri later at the couple’s home on Soledad Canyon Road.

Risky surgery and extensive therapy helped the infant survive his injuries, which included a cracked skull, a broken leg, cigarette lighter burns to his feet and buttocks and two black eyes. The infant suffered permanent brain damage as a result of the abuse, doctors said.

Oliveri’s plea to aggravated mayhem stemmed from injuries suffered by Justin. Jackman’s plea to two felony counts of child abuse stemmed from treatment of Justin and the couple’s 2-year-old, whose ankles were shackled with steel handcuffs, Lacey said.

Justin has been placed in foster care and the couple’s four other children are living with relatives, Lacey said.

The case shocked Santa Clarita residents, especially because of the life-altering injuries to Justin, who prosecutors said was among the youngest abuse victims in county history.

During a pretrial hearing in Municipal Court, Judge Norris Goodwin said the evidence of physical abuse suffered by Justin and the other children was “beyond belief.”