Friday, June 14, 2019
YOUNGSTOWN
It took jurors little more than an hour to find Eric Pendland guilty of violently shaking his 3-month-old son, causing him permanent, disabling injuries.
“He can’t see. He can’t hear. He’ll be on a feeding tube the rest of his life,” said Jennifer McLaughlin, assistant county prosecutor, after the verdict. “To be able to get some small justice for him, I think, is the best thing we can do.”
Jurors on Thursday afternoon heard closing arguments in the case against Pendland, 37, who was indicted in August 2017 on two felony counts of endangering children. Pendland remained stoic and chewed gum as Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony Donofrio read the jury’s verdict, and as onlookers became emotional.
“I expected to be able to help raise this child, help be a part of his life,” said Hannah Schulte, a friend of the boy’s mother, who was not at the hearing. “I thought I could get to see his first steps. I thought I could get to see him go to school and have a life.
“And he got that taken away from him.”
Pendland was the only person supervising the child, Eric Jr., on March 1, 2017, prosecutors said during trial. They said the baby was “near death” when he was taken to the hospital that night, adding Pendland risked the child’s life by not seeking medical attention immediately.
Dr. Paul McPherson, a child-abuse specialist with Akron Children’s Hospital who examined the boy, testified his injuries were consistent with child abuse.
“A parent is entrusted with the complete care and control of an infant,” McLaughlin told the jury during closing arguments. “Sometimes, that job is taxing. It’s frustrating. It requires self-sacrifice, self-control. Parents do that every day.
“And instead, this defendant took out his frustrations on his 3-month-old baby ... until his brain bled, his eyes bled, his brain swelled. And he waved off concerns that maybe that baby he had shaken needed medical treatment,” she continued.
During closing arguments, Pendland’s defense attorney, Andrew Zellers of Canfield, questioned the testimony of Dr. McPherson, who routinely reviews child-abuse cases.
“To the man with a hammer, every problem is a nail,” he said.
Zellers suggested there may be other medical explanations for the infant’s afflictions and produced a paid medical expert for trial – one who did not personally examine the boy, prosecutors noted.
“We don’t know. We don’t know for sure,” Zellers said, later adding, “If you’re not firmly convinced on what happened here, it must be ‘not guilty.’”
Judge Donofrio chose to hold Pendland without bond in the county jail until his sentencing date, which has yet to be set. He also ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
Pendland faces a maximum of 11 years in prison between both counts, for which McLaughlin said the state will argue at the sentencing hearing.