FOSTER DAD GETS 25 YEARS IN CHILD'S DEATH

MAN WHO BEAT 2-YEAR-OLD BECAUSE OF DIRTY DIAPER BLAMES ALCOHOL FOR CAUSING THE ATTACK

Rocky Mountain News

A foster father who came home drunk from a Super Bowl party and beat to death a 2-year-old for dirtying his diaper was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison.

Ricky Haney of Westminster sobbed and pleaded for mercy before tying the attack to alcohol."Obviously, when I hit Miguel's head, I wasn't in my right mind. It wasn't Rick Haney. It was a Rick Haney that had had too much to drink," Haney, 38, told Adams County District Court Judge Thomas Ensor.

The January 1999 beating of Miguel Arias-Baca was one in a string of violent child deaths connected to county social services agencies that pushed Gov. Bill Owens to direct a task force to investigate the system.

Ensor touched on weaknesses in this system as he handed down the sentence.

"This is a kid who just never had a chance," the judge told Haney. "When he came into this world, he had two strikes against him, and he's put into a system which was meant to protect him. And I think, like many people, your intention was to do so, but you didn't."

Even before the toddler's death, there were warning signs he was unsafe in the Haneys' home.

In four months with the Haneys, Miguel's weight dropped from 29 to 24 pounds, said Adams County Prosecutor Mark Warner.

Miguel's mother and grandmother, Odelia and Anita Baca, told social workers they noticed bruises on him during visits.

But Adams County Social Services left Miguel and his 1-year-old brother, Oswaldo, with the Haneys.

Haney and his wife, Evon, worked for a private child placement agency, All About Kids. They earned thousands of dollars a month taking in special-needs children, those with medical or behavior problems.

Yet before being hired by All About Kids, the Haneys had been booted out of two other private child placement agencies.

Neither had a driver's license and both had arrest records, including a drunken-drive case against Rick Haney.

Apparently, they had little training in their jobs.

"We'd never experienced foster children before. These were therapeutic children who were very hard to deal with," Haney told the judge.

All About Kids remains in business, placing needy foster children with families. A state investigation after Miguel's death found the agency had broken no rules.

Odelia Baca never abused or neglected her sons, according to Adams County court records, but she did use cocaine. Drug use and her unstable, poverty-stricken life prompted the Adams County Department of Social Services to take the boys away in October 1998.

Their grandmother, Anita Baca, who works at a nursing home, wanted the boys, but social workers refused her offer.

She, too, wept Wednesday as she talked about her battered grandson.

Oswaldo, now 2, remains in custody of the Adams County Social Services Department, the same agency that had custody of Miguel at the time of his death.

"We're fighting for him now," Anita Baca said.

She said authorities have told her they were waiting for the case against Haney to be resolved before dealing with Oswaldo.

Adams County authorities declined to talk about Oswaldo's situation or whereabouts, citing confidentiality laws.

The Bacas are planning a civil suit against the agencies involved.

"Miguel and Oswaldo should never have been placed in the Haneys home given his previous history," said their attorney Bill Brady.

Contributing to Miguel's death, the Haneys waited more than two hours after the beating to seek medical help. And after the boy died, Rick Haney tried to persuade his wife to take the blame, saying she'd receive a lesser sentence, Walker told the judge.

Haney whimpered when he heard the sentence.

Earlier this year, he'd pleaded guilty to criminally negligent child abuse, which carried a possible sentenced of 32 years. Haney's attorney on Wednesday requested community corrections, which would have allowed the former foster father to serve his time outside of prison.

"There is a feeling or a sense that Ricky Haney is some form of demon or very bad person. That is not true, judge," said defense attorney Jeff Pagliuca.

He brought up Haney's suicide attempt after Miguel's death, calling the overdose on cold medication "the highest expression of remorse."