Prosecutors say a 25-year-old Butte man hit or punched his 1-month-old infant daughter in the head or face, causing facial trauma and intercranial hemorrhage.
Justin Wayne Fortner pleaded not guilty Wednesday to assault on minor, which in this case is punishable by up to 20 years in prison because the victim was under 3.
Fortner
According to Prosecutor Ann Shea, Fortner told police he knew he hit the baby too hard “because she began crying louder and her face was messed up.”
“He described her face being messed up as it was swelling and she was bleeding from the nose,” Shea wrote in charging documents.
Fortner appeared for Wednesday’s arraignment via video from the Butte jail. District Judge Robert Whelan accepted his not-guilty plea and set the next hearing for July 17.
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According to the charging affidavit, police were called to St. James Healthcare around 2:15 a.m. on May 31 regarding a mother who brought her infant child in with facial injuries.
The mother told police she was with the baby all day while Fortner, her husband, was at work. He got home around 1:45 a.m. and she put the baby to bed and started to draw a bath.
The baby started crying in way the mother had never heard before and when she looked across the room, Fortner was holding the infant and trying to feed her with a bottle.
She said the baby continued to cry and when Fortner brought her into the bathroom, the mother saw injuries to her face. She asked Fortner if he hit the infant and after some time, he said he did.
An officer asked the mother if Fortner had any history of physical abuse with her or the child. She initially said no but later told police that Fortner had a history of punching walls, throwing items and slamming doors.
She also recalled two incidents when Fortner got mad at their dog, saying he “would get on top of the dog when the dog was on the ground and he would start punching the dog in the head.”
The woman said she told Fortner she “would do to him what she does to the dog if she caught him doing it again.” The dog was still alive but staying with someone else, she said.
At the hospital, medical staff said the infant had a trace of “subarachnoid hemorrhage” and would likely be admitted, the affidavit says. The infant had swelling and bruising in the face.
Fortner told police the infant was “fussier than normal and crying” and he tried calming her down by holding her, laying her down and feeding her but “nothing worked.”
He said he suffers from ADHD, does not really express emotion and has trouble with handing anger.
“Fortner stated that he smacked (the infant) a couple of times, hard and soft,” the affidavit says.
Mike Smith is a reporter at the Montana Standard with an emphasis on government and politics.
