Man admits shaking baby to death; crying interrupted video game
Toolbox
By SUSAN SMALLHEER Rutland Herald Staff - Published: November 17, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — A Brattleboro man pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he accidentally killed his baby daughter two years ago.
James Petrin, 23, was sentenced to eight to 15 years in prison by District Judge Karen R. Carroll, after the state amended the charge against him from second-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
According to testimony in court Monday, Petrin shook his eight-week-old daughter Trisha Joy so hard that he caused severe brain and internal injuries. The baby died five days later at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
Petrin is the third brother in his family to be convicted of killing a person. His two older brothers, Donald Cross and Edwin Cross, were convicted of negligent homicide and manslaughter, respectively.
Edwin Cross, with whom Petrin was living at the time of his daughter's death in 2007, was convicted in 1998 of negligent homicide in Keene, N.H., for shaking his four-month-old baby daughter to death. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 to seven years in prison.
Donald Cross was convicted for the rape and murder of an elderly Brattleboro woman, Myrtle Benson, and was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in jail.
According to Vicki Chambers of Orange, Mass., the grandmother of the dead baby, Petrin was upset with the baby for crying when he wanted to play video games.
"My son Rob sends a message: May you truly know the meaning of 'Game Over,'" said Chambers, whose voice cracked as she gave her victim's statement during Petrin's plea change and sentencing.
The baby's mother, Brianne Johnston, 26, of Brattleboro, said she was satisfied with the sentence, but she said she really wanted "an eye for an eye."
Johnston, who was never married to Petrin, said she believed that he "never meant to do it."
Her baby son, who is also Petrin's son, will never know his sister, she said. And she will never get to know the person her daughter would have been, Johnson said.
She will never get to play dress-up with her daughter. "I will never get over her," she said.
"We've all learned how precious each other is," said her mother. Johnson gave the judge photos she had taken with her cell phone of her daughter, as she lay dying at the Lebanon, N.H., hospital, where she was taken after first being treated at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.
The baby's father wasn't charged with her murder until more than six months later, and Petrin has been in jail since March 2008.
Windham County Deputy State's Attorney Ellen Kryger said that pretrial discovery revealed that Petrin didn't have the criminal intent to kill his daughter and that the involuntary manslaughter charge was a more accurate criminal charge.
Second-degree murder calls for a mental state showing a "wanton disregard" that his actions would cause her death, she said.
"From what we learned about him as a parent, it's not what he intended or had any idea that it could happen," she said.
Petrin was 21 when the incident happened.
No mention was made of the Petrin family history in court Monday. Petrin had apologized to both Johnston and Chambers shortly before Carroll issued her sentence, which was part of a negotiated plea agreement.
"Brianne and Vicki, I hope that one day you will forgive me," said Petrin, looking at the two women. "I'm sorry."
His attorney, Kerry DeWolfe of Barre, said that "his remorse is deep," and his family is also mourning the death of Trisha Joy. DeWolfe said that he had told her that the best day of his life was when Trisha Joy was born, and the worst day was when she died.
"This is a tragedy," she said. "This was a momentary lapse."
But Johnston and Chambers were unmoved, and Chambers said her granddaughter's crying distracted him from his videogames.
"There is a special place in hell (for Petrin)," Chambers said.
susan.smallheer
@rutlandherald.com
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