Father charged with battering second infant
Jul. 12—CLARK COUNTY — A Clarksville man arrested last fall on allegations that he battered his newborn is facing new charges related to a different child.
Jalen Casey, 26, is charged with two level 3 felonies — one for battery with serious bodily injury to a person under 14 and one for neglect of a dependent resulting in serious injury. He appeared for an initial hearing last week in Clark County Circuit Court No. 4, where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.
During a bond revocation hearing Monday in a previous case, the judge ordered no bond.
Court records show the Department of Child Services notified police July 2 of a 3-month-old child who had arrived at Norton Children's Hospital several days before with what health care staff say were injuries to multiple areas of the child's body. The mother had taken the child there saying she believed the baby was having an allergic reaction to a new pacifier, bottle or formula.
On examination, Norton staff found the child had what appeared to be rug burns on the eyelids, nose and cheeks, with both eyes bruised and swollen shut. The child had multiple bruises on the back and a fractured rib.
The mother said Casey had been the one to put the baby to bed and later get the child up. Casey said he had taken the baby to bed around 9:30 p.m., checked several times throughout the night and got the child out of bed between 8 and 8:30 a.m.
The report shows that although "Jalen offered several explanations, none of them were consistent with all the injuries [the child] sustained...," it reads.
In a separate pending case, Casey faces a level 3 felony for neglect of a dependent and a level 3 felony for aggravated battery charged in October for allegations from last June.
In that case, a different child, less than 2 months old, was treated at Norton Children's Hospital for "near fatal" injuries including two brain bleeds. Casey said he had tripped and fallen with the baby and had later shaken the child who had been crying, but did not intentionally harm the child.
Casey was initially held on a $50,000 cash-only bond in the 2020 case, which was modified to a court-cash bond in November. He was released in December after paying $5,000 or 10% of the bond.
