From: Eileen Dannemann
Date: May 15, 2013 5:21:08 PM PDT (CA)
Subject: Fwd: An end to our case: Update on our Shaken Baby Case in Cedar Rapid Iowa
9 vaccines..10 days later…craziness with 2 month old… to the hospital…CPS…3 years later (now) Dad is sentence to prison. She also got the flu shot with mercury when she was pregnant , as well as getting Tristan all his shots including Hep B at birth. Good parents…following the establishment’s vaccine protocol…
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From: Emily Zimmerman
Date: Wed, May 15, 2013 at 6:31 PM
Subject: An end to our case
Hello, all. I wanted to let those know who have been following our case that it has reached a conclusion, over three years later :/
DHS involvement was ended with Teaghan last May after her return home to me and last June for Gabriel and Natalie. Their father and I have joint custody with him having primary physical care. Tristan was adopted by the family that has had him since his removal and that was finalized in October.
The criminal side of the case with Patrick was concluded last month. He is currently in prison.
He waited over three years for the prosecution to offer a decent deal. Due to some issues within the case, his defense did not feel confident of his acquittal and so he took a deal after much deliberation and prayer. The state drug his case out for so long because they have been waiting for Tristan to pass away from his injuries. They wanted to make this into a murder trial. They finally gave up on that and offered him a lesser charge than he initially was facing, along with the promise that should Tristan pass away due to his injuries, Patrick would not be prosecuted for murder. He entered an Alford plea, which essentially is a guilty plea, but is not directly admitting guilt, instead acknowledging that the evidence is enough to most likely convict him.
His charge is now Child Endangerment Resulting in Bodily Harm, a class D felony carrying a 5 year term. This charge is eligible for good time, whereas the previous one wasn’t, and according to the IDOC database, his release date is July of 2015. He is eligible for parole in 6 months.
While this was not what we wanted, Patrick decided to take it for peace of mind for his future. He wants to be able to move on with his life. So, another innocent is in the prison system for this crap diagnosis. I know that he has been more fortunate than some, but incarcerated unjustly is still hard to swallow. With God’s grace, he will only spend about a year in prison.
Thank you all for your support and help throughout our case. It has meant more than I can express. I wish I had a happier ending to report, but in the end, we realize it could be worse.
~Emily