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Read comments (30)That is the fate of Joel Trower.
He is now only a little more than a year old. His doctors say it is unlikely his condition will improve; he will remain permanently at the level of a one-month old. He has been in this condition since he was only six weeks old.
The man who put him in this state, his father, Ronald L. Trower, 37, of Marshall, was sentenced in Pettis County court Thursday, Aug. 7, to life in prison for what he did to his son.
Trower was convicted June 18 of class A felony assault. It wasn't his first conviction.
In 2001, Trower was sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting another child. He was released in 2006, just long enough, said Saline County Assistant Prosecutor Joby Raines in his address to the court, "to find a girlfriend, get her pregnant, and assault another child."
During the hearing, Trower's attorney, Brett Kaiser, called Trower's mother, Sarah Long, to the stand. Long testified that she thought her son is "a good guy. He'd do anything for anybody," she said. "He's a good son."
She said, "He didn't mean to do it. I know it was wrong -- what he did."
Kaiser also called clinical psychologist Dr. Allen Whitehead of Springfield, who testified that Trower's ability to read and write, or to 'self-monitor' his behavior was "less than normal." Whitehead said that Trower was himself abused as a child, abandoned twice by his mother, and treated poorly by other relatives.
Whitehead also said that Trower, a former alcoholic and drug user, with a crack cocaine habit that cost him as much as $150 per day, had rehabilitated himself, and had not used drugs or alcohol in 10 years.
Under questioning by Judge Robert L. Koffman, however, Whitehead admitted that although he had interviewed Trower for five or more hours, he had no concrete evidence that any of what Trower told him was actually true. Koffman pointed to several instances in the notes submitted with the sentencing review that Trower had asserted he sustained a head injury in an accident, but had said the accident happened at several different ages -- as young as three or four, then later as old as seven.
Raines called no witnesses and submitted no additional evidence at the hearing. In his remarks to the judge, he said, "In my mind, I can't think of a more heinous crime. (The victim) was a 6-week-old, defenseless, helpless child."
"(This child) has no life, no quality of life," Raines continued. "Ronald Trower deprived his child of everything -- he took his life from him."
Raines pointed to Whitehead's testimony regarding Trower's own difficult childhood as "irrelevant."
"I believe the evidence shows he tried to cover it up. First he denied it, then he blamed it on Michelle Keller (the child's mother)." Keller has been charged with two counts with class C felony endangering of a child in connection with the same assault.
"I also question his sorrow. 'I only punched him once,' he said.
"And he's not sorry."
When Koffman asked Trower if he had anything to say before sentence was imposed, Trower said he thought he deserved probation, adding he had a job waiting for him if he didn't go to jail.
"I know what I did was wrong," he said. "But I shouldn' have to do life. I should be punished, but not with life. I know (my son) is never going to be 'right' and I'm sorry."
As Koffman imposed the life sentence, he noted that Trower had sent greeting cards to his children, telling them "I'm a good father,' and "I will see you again."
"Those are inappropriate statements on both counts," Koffman said.
"(This was) the most innocent of human beings," he said, as he listed for the record the devastating injuries to Joel Trower.
Koffman said this was one of the worst cases he had seen in his 27 years on the bench.
Addressing Trower, he said, "The facts of this case shock. It would be imprudent in the extreme to put you back on the street again. If not this case for life in prison, then what case would qualify?"
"May God have mercy on your soul … and mine as well," he said, before imposing the maximum penalty.
Contact Kathy Fairchild at
I encourage any of you with comments / questions about Ron to please email me.
TexasTornado4954@aol.com
I am - sadly and not proudly - related to Ron. He has started to call me again and I cam sickened by what he has done.
I did NOT grow up with Ron -- my situation in unique and I never spent one moment with him, but I am related - in blood - to him.
I feel I owe everyone an apology for what he has done - though I had nothing to do with it.
Anyway - I would like to hear from anyone - especially those related to the case - reporters - those who were involved with Ron years ago (both before and after his lockup).
I have tried to keep up with Joel's progress (thought it looks as it that has haulted permanently) through this whole ordeal. My heart breaks when I think of what was done to this little boy and knowing that another little girl was in this household as well - nothing has been mentioned of what might have happened to her living under his roof?
Oh my stomach churns when I realize the same blood is running through our veins -- I want to be sick. I am thankful that I never grew up around him - I was loved and cared for in another home and with other parents. Amazing what nature vs. nurture can result in. What a story.
Please email me if you'd like to comment.
TexasTornado4954@aol.com
Thank you.
This poor excuse of a human being is much luckier than the baby he did this too! To have the audasity to say he doesn't believe he should be locked up until he dies...shows the mindset of a sociopath as he is! Mr. Raines is very eloquent and gets the point across, even further, and beyond the obvious depth of this heinous crime. Any time I read a case where he handles it, he gets it above and beyond and often in small statements. Such an asset to our justice system. As for the idiot who did this crime...Sorry..you don't get to order your punishment off of a menu! The punishment fits the crime! There is nothing left, but the crying now...and sadly, individuals of your caliber, along with your "mother"...won't shed a tear.
I am glad that he got life in prison! Finally the justice system gets one right!
Mama11 -
While I don't dispute your statistics, I was talking about child abuse in general, not specifically abusive head trauma.
My statistics are for child maltreatment and and child fatalities nationwide and obtained from the Department Health and Human Services. The reality is that the most likely perpetrators of child abuse are mothers. Period. My only reason for posting this was to point out to upsedaisy that men are not the evil people that so many (the media, so-called feminists, and others).
The majority of children who have a diagnosis of Abusive Head Trauma are abused by males. I have reviewed several studies which show:
Fathers account for 37-45%
Boyfriends account for 21-25%
Mothers account for 10-13%
Since 1998, there have been 5 children I have known of who had/have abusive head trauma. All five of these children were injured by fathers/mom's boyfriend.
Take a moment and visit the Kid's Count Data for Saline County. Per capita-children are more likely to die in Saline County than in Kansas City and more likely to be abused and/or neglected. For example for Child Abuse and Neglect:
Lafayette County-29.5 per 1000 children
Jackson County-33.8 per 1000 children
SALINE COUNTY-52.2 PER 1000 CHILDREN!!!
These statistics have been pretty constant for years and continue to be alarming.
Upsedaisy: Just as a reference to you in the future, the majority of child abusers in this country (58%) are female (males comprise 42%). Further, the majority of child fatalities due to abuse are perpetrated by a female parent (40%), while only 18% are perpetrated by a male parent. Men in this country are not the monsters they are portrayed to be by the media!!! (Just for the record, I'm a woman!)
I would say the big difference is our acceptance of postpartum depression and other pyschological issues as a defense for a woman, yet we don't accept similar defenses (i.e. early childhood abuse, abandonment, depression, etc.) when they come from a man.
That said, I'm grateful that this animal will be in a cage for the foreseeable future and be unable to injure another child. I'll keep Joel and his family in my prayers.
As it already had been stated he has hurt children before and I know what it was like to be hit and beat. I am one of the children from the 2001 case. It wasn't only physical abuse that me and my brothers encounter there was emotional and to me sexual too. After what he did to me he threatened me that if I had said anything he would kill me. so being a young child I held it in. it scared me so much that it was a year after being in the foster care system that I came out and told someone but then it was too late. The evidence was gone. What happened to me 7 years ago I have left in the past. I am now married and having a child of my own. The excuse of being beaten as a child is no excuse at all because you have the power to change what was bad and make a great future.
Not only is he being judge for what he did here on earth but he will also be judge by god, and god's eternal punishment will be what he deserves. God bless Joel and Joel's family. The family and Joel will have to live with Trower's actions the rest of their life.
angel1968 -
Good for you getting your life turned around and your children back. We all make mistakes - thank God your children weren't seriously injured!
This poor baby now has no quality of life. No prison sentence is going to make it all better. At least he will never be able to hurt another child.
angel1968,
Don't get upset. I don't think anyone in this forum is blaming you because you happened to have known this jerk sometime in the past. You have done nothing wrong. You are just another one of this animal's many victims, but fear not, he will never be able to hurt you or anyone else again.
So just relax.
Although I am not from your area, and this was forwarded to me on the net by someone involved; I had to comment.
These atrocities happen all over our country, and having been an ER Nurse for many years, I see far too much child abuse, thankfully not to this level often. I cannot ever read an article or see this, without shaking my head and wondering what goes on in the heads of these monsters!
Seems they always have an excuse too. Abused as a child themslves for instance. I am a huge proponent of taking responsibility for your own actions. Many of us raised in the 50's and 60's were spanked, maybe even with a belt or switch as discipline when we were children. Amazingly we didnt grow up to be monsters, or ever hurt an infant or child.
At first, I thought prison might be too little punishment, but upon further thought, death would have been too merciful! So, I pray that as DAGates said, the inmates will take care of him with their "code". What a horrible, horrible excuse for a human being this is!
God Bless that poor baby.
This man definately has problems. He has already tired to commit suicide in jail drinking something. He has been writing my girlfriend from jail and ask her to marry him, after i showed her the articles on him and why he was in jail, she is no longer going to talk to him. He told her other reasons y he was in jail. said he was in jail for cutting a guy and it was self defense. he was potecting alittle boy. Said his aunt had his kids. He is a lier and has mental issues. What he did to this children is sick. ?He deserves the life sentencing.
excuse me i never had mr trowers baby these children are mine not his so again get your info straight my kids have a dad but trower isnt there father and i payed for it so dont judge me ive been judged and its bs to say i allowed him to do anything and another thing i was with him for 4 years and he never did anything to them while i was around he did it behind my back see i have a life and my children never told me what he was doing in fear that he would beat me witch he did and i called the police thay didnt do anything thats why my children never told me what he was doing behind my back because if i would have knowen he would of been a hospital somewhere my dad would of beat him to a pulp my family still hates this man today but NONE of us new what was going on untill i went to jail for it spent 3 1/2 months in county jail for something he did and i lost my children but thay give me my children back because thay found out it was all him but i payed the price more then 1 time lost my kids and almost ended up in prison for something he did on his own thank god for my kids thay told everyone that i didnt know he was doing so there for my children saved my life my children are now 22 /20/18/15 and have lifes my daughter just got married july 26 and my son thats 22 has a 2 year old son but like i said i honestly didnt know what he was doing untill the cops were at my door then i was told about itbut if thay would of done this the first time little joel wouldnt of been like he is today that gave him a slap on the wrist 5 year for 4 counts of childabuse so who do you blame i blame the court so upsedaisy now get it straight when i was with him i was on the shot so dont say i had unpreted sex with him
Upsedaisy, lets not turn this into a male bashing thread...does Andrea Bates ring a bell?
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jul200...
It's not a male only crime.
Male or Female, nothing less than life in prison for a crime of this magnitude. TroyG pretty much hit the nail on the head. This Trower guy will more than likely pray for death after a few years in the "Big House"
What a shame that at least two women allowed this man to have unprotected sex with them, resulting in his impregnating them.
Women need to learn that they seldom can "reform" drug addicts, gamblers, or alcoholics with love alone. This country has an epidemic of pregnant women being murdered by "boy friends" who don't want the responsibility of raising children.
wow readin that brought tears to my eyes how could u do that to an innocent child i could see if it was the first time u were ever around a child i could understand u gettin flustrated but not that flustrated that shows ur a physcho what and sick individual...
Hopefully he will be put in with the general population and save the tax payers some money. His fellow inmates will make short work of him, even they have a code.
im sry kathy to put it the way i did to everyone but those children was mine he did it to and i want the truth to come out and it also said he had been off drugs and hadnt drank a drop in over 10 year thats a lie also it hasnt been 10 years sence it happened to my children and i got punished for it as well as him ive turned my life around and i got all my kids back from the state after it was all said and done and i still pay for it in a lot of ways with my children today and it wasnt only that he had beat my kids he did more witch i will not state at this time because ive got more faily that still hurts over what he done and un like the dog trower ill get to see my grandchildren grow un like troweri still have my children in my life and yes still today i take the blame for everything he did from my children i just wished i knew then what i know now but i know i cant go back and change it if i could i would but he only got 5 years for 4 counts back then if thay would of give it to him then he wouldent of been out here on the streets to do it to a baby
We should have sent him off to the execution chamber. Sons Of Sam http://www.sonsofsam.net/
Joby did a wonderful job prosecuting this case and not accepting any 'woeful childhood' excuses. What happened to that baby is horrible; I hope Mr. Trower remembers it was HIS choice to hurt that child and it's HIS fault that prison will be his home here on earth.
AMEN, workingmom, AMEN!!
God be with this child.
Angel968 - Our source of information on prior offenses is Case.net, which doesn't have specific details on every case. If the actual paper records are available at the courthouse, we can publish additional information. Thank you for bringing that to our attention.
Troy,
I usually have a lot of compassion for people but not this guy. I know that you know what you are talking about when you described what a bad life this animal has to look forward to in prison.
Normally, I am opposed to locking people up in cages, and as you have probably sensed from my other comments in the past, I prefer to stress reform over punishment. However, this guy is way beyond reform, and I hope every day he spends in prison will be a miserable living hell! It is way beyond my comprehension how anyone could do such a thing to an infant child or any child for that matter. Children -- and especially infants -- need heaps and heaps of love, warmth, and attention -- not beatings. And as Kathy pointed out, this living piece of human excreament (my description, not Kathy's) had the nerve to say he thought he deserved probation. I almost vomited when I read that.
God may forgive him, but I never will!!
Its too bad we can't send this piece of garbage to Gitmo for some daily "enhanced" interrogation for the rest of his miserable life.
Truthfully, this was less than he deserved. Way to go, Judge Koffman. Seems to me that crimes like this should be included in consideration for a needle.
In the State of Missouri a life sentence is calculated as 30 years. State statute requires that he serve a minimum of 85% of his sentence because assault in the first degree is classified as a "dangerous felony." He will have to serve a minimum of 25 1/2 years before he is eligible for parole.
it said he done it before back in 2001 to a child it was children not just one child he done it to 4 children so i think the paper needs to get it striaght i also think he should rot in hell for what he done to his own fleash and blood and the other he done it to as well
If this man is ever granted parole, there is no justice. I know that as a reporter, I am supposed to be objective, but after what I heard and saw in court today, objectivity is impossible. For Trower to ever walk the streets again would be a travesty, a spit in the eye of justice of a greater magnitude than I can adequately express. To hear him say he thought he should get probation for what he did to his helpless son was a moment I will never forget.
His every day in department of corrections is going to be a living hell. Before he even gets to his "camp" all the other inmates will already know that he has hurt a child. There are no secrets in the DOC. He will get beat, really beat, at least once a week. Every time he buys commissary it will get taken from him. He will never get to live in "population". He'll live most of his sentence in Protective Custody (PC). He is going to do extremely hard time and will be reminded each and every day what he has done. He might get paroled after about 18 years but first he has to live that long. This is exactly what he deserves. In 18 years this baby will still be all f**ked up. When people his age are going to prom and becoming young adults this baby will be in a nursing home and forever have the mind of a baby. Joel had one chance already and he did it again. Soon he will know what it's like to get beat to a pulp. This is exactly what prisons are for. He got the perfect sentence.
I am so glad to see him get what he got. He does not deserve to have kids be around kids or nothing. He is sick.
Thank You Judge Koffman for seeing to it that justice has been served. I feel quite certain that the residents of Marshall will breath easier knowing that animal won't be returning to our community to beat more innocent children to a pulp.
You did the right thing Judge!