Judge Weighs New Trial For Dad Who Duct-Taped Daughter
Updated 11/29/12 - 5:07 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Sentencing was delayed Thursday for a father convicted of aggravated battery for taping over his 22-month-old daughter's mouth and binding her hands with tape, after the man's defense attorney asked the judge for a new trial.
CBS 2's Susanna Song reports 22-year-old Andre Curry was scheduled to be sentenced for aggravated battery and aggravated domestic battery at a hearing on Thursday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building, but defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. first filed a motion for a new trial.
The judge will rule on the request on Dec. 31.
Following a bench trial earlier this month, a Cook County judge cleared Curry of a charge of unlawful restraint, but convicted him of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery. He faces up to 7 years in prison if a new trial is not granted..
Although Curry has admitted placing tape over his daughter's mouth and binding her arms and legs, his defense attorney there's nothing criminal about Curry's actions. Adam said it would do more harm than good if Curry goes to prison for what he did.
"How does this help? How does giving a man a Class 2 felony for doing something that was certainly stupid, but no one was hurt, and the child now is the one who's gonna suffer?" Adam said.
Adam said keeping the felony convictions in place for Curry would make it virtually impossible for him to get a decent job, and likely would prompt the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to require Curry to have supervised visits with his daughter.
"The whole situation just does not help anybody. The truth of the matter is what's gonna happen is you, you, you and me are going to end up taking care of the baby, because this man is unemployable once this happens," Adam said.
The widely viewed photo of Curry's duct-taped daughter, and its caption – "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back" – inspired outrage and prompted the criminal charges.
Earlier this year, Curry sat down with CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker to talk about the incident. He showed off cell phone video of him reuniting with his daughter two months after the incident.
Tearful and remorseful, Curry said he wasn't trying to hurt his daughter, and didn't think about the consequences of his actions.
"I wasn't thinking about it at the time. I wish I would have thought about it," Curry said in March.
Curry said he was just playing with his 22-month-old daughter.
"I was just trying to keep my daughter's laughs coming. I was so in daddy mode just to please her. I didn't think about how wrong it would look from other peoples' perspective," he says. "But now when I look back, that does look like she was hurt."
Curry, who is currently living in Minnesota, said he regrets what he did.
