Hampton, Va. - David Curtis Patton is facing child abuse charges related to his newborn daughter's brain injuries seven years after he was convicted of shaking his baby boy Jared so badly that the boy died from brain injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome three years later.
"To be freed from harming Jared the way he did and having another chance at life and committing the same crime to another child is unforgivable," said Steve Stowe, Jared's maternal grandfather.
According to Hampton court records, Patton's daughter was admitted to CHKD in May for "acute and chronic subdural hematoma on the brain."
Court records say Patton told police his dog knocked her over, but the criminal complaint says "treating medical personnel at CHKD indicates that the series of events told by the accused is inconsistent with the injuries the three-month-old girl is suffering."
"I was baffled because I couldn't understand how this could have happens again!" Kathy said.
Stowe and his wife Kathy took care of Jared until he died at the age of three in 2009.
"He went from being a normal, beautiful baby boy to this small, helpless human being that was surrounded by machines and tubes," said Kathy. "He never walked, or talked. He couldn't sit up. He couldn't hold a toy. At the end he couldn't even move his arms and legs."
Patton never admitted to shaking Jared when the baby was six weeks old in 2006, but he was convicted of the crime in 2007 and sentenced to five years in prison.
During that time, the Stowes founded a nonprofit organization to bring awareness to shaken baby syndrome and wrote the book "Jared's Journey."
Steve said when he learned Patton was released and expecting another baby, he reached out to him.
"I said you've got a baby girl now. Take care of her. Start your life over, and he said that's what I plan on doing," Steve said.
After these new charges, Steve is less forgiving.
"I wish nothing but harm to fall on him," Steve said. "Because harming a child to me is the worst thing a person can do."
Patton is in jail without bond. Authorities say at last check, the girl was still in the hospital in stable condition.
