Poutre stepfather gets 12-15 years in prison

Judge decries lifelong effects of abuse

SPRINGFIELD - A judge sentenced the stepfather of Haleigh Poutre yesterday to 12 to 15 years in state prison for participating in a horrific pattern of child abuse, saying he had deprived Poutre of the "most precious gift" of a normal childhood.

"It is as serious an offense as one can commit," Hampden Superior Court Judge Judd Carhart said in a packed courtroom. "She'll never be a normal teenager or adult."

The sentencing of Jason Strickland was handed down three years after the case drew national attention when the state prematurely sought to remove Poutre's life support after she fell into a coma from a near-fatal head injury in September 2005. A few months later, just when the state won court approval to end her life, saying her condition was "hopeless," the 11-year-old girl became alert, breathing on her own and responding to commands.

Strickland, a 34-year-old auto mechanic who has been in jail since he was convicted three weeks ago, showed no reaction when the judge announced the sentence, a demeanor he maintained throughout his three-week trial. His lawyer, Alan Black, had pleaded with the court to allow Strickland to serve one year in a county jail. Black, who is appealing the verdict, said Strickland had no prior criminal record and "this quiet man from North Carolina will have great difficulty coping with" state prison.

But the judge rejected that plea. Describing the case as one of the most painful in his legal career, Carhart imposed prison time closely in line with prosecutor Laurel Brandt's request for 14 1/2 to 17 1/2 years at MCI-Cedar Junction, the state prison in Walpole.

In calling for a harsh penalty for Strickland, Brandt recounted some of her own conversations in the past year with Haleigh, which included the girl using an alphabetized board to help her communicate. Brandt said Haleigh "remembers being abused" and recalls having bruises and "red marks" as a result of being struck with hands, feet, and "with a belt."

The prosecutor said Haleigh, now 14, exhibits a psychological condition common among child abuse victims: She continues to believe that she acts in ways worthy of punishment. Brandt said that when the girl arrived at Franciscan Hospital for Children, the pediatric rehabilitation facility in Brighton where she now resides, she expressed "negative self-image." Brandt said that, in one interaction she had with the girl, Haleigh thought she was confined to the hospital because "she had been bad."

At one point, Brandt said, Haleigh wrote on her alphabet board, "I stole."

When Brandt asked what she stole, the girl spelled out, "Food."

The prosecutor asked her why she took food, and the girl replied: "Hungry."

During the trial, Brandt told jurors that Jason and his late wife, Holli Strickland, who had adopted Haleigh, often deprived Haleigh of food and excluded her from activities they allowed the two other children in the family to enjoy.

The stepfather alone faced criminal charges because, in a bizarre twist in the case, Holli Strickland died shortly after the couple was accused of abuse. Police say Holli, shortly after being released on bail, died at her grandmother's hand in an apparent murder-suicide.

During the three-week trial, Strickland portrayed himself as a detached but kindly presence in the home. He said he noticed many wounds on Haleigh, but he believed his wife's explanation that Haleigh had a psychological condition that caused her to hurt herself.

That explanation had also been accepted, over a five-year period, by the child's pediatricians, therapists, and state social workers, who dismissed allegations from neighbors and teachers that Haleigh was being abused in her home.

Given that even doctors and social workers missed signs that Haleigh was being abused, Jason Strickland's mother angrily asked outside the courtroom why her son alone is bearing responsibility for the girl's injuries.

"My son is a scapegoat," said Bobbi Strickland, who traveled from North Carolina to attend the sentencing. "Jason has never abused anyone in his life."

In an awkward moment, Strickland's mother accused others of letting down Haleigh, including Allison Avrett, Haleigh's biological mother, who stood just feet away. After suffering from substance abuse and mental health problems, Avrett signed legal papers eight years ago allowing Haleigh to be adopted by Holli Strickland, Avrett's sister.

Avrett, who contends she was misled by her sister, wept after the sentencing, saying that no amount of prison time for Jason Strickland will help Haleigh.

"It doesn't impact Haleigh's life," she said. "My main concern is Haleigh."

The jury ultimately found that Jason Strickland may not have dealt the near-fatal blow to Haleigh's head, but that he was guilty of "recklessly permitting" the injury to occur. The panel found him guilty of five of the six counts, including several instances of striking Haleigh in the summer of 2005.

When reached by telephone, one juror who did not want her name published, said she believed the prosecution's key witnesses, Haleigh's sister and a baby sitter, who described Strickland as being part of the abuse.

This juror said she believed that Holli Strickland primarily abused Haleigh, but that the stepfather participated in some beatings. And even if he did not cause the most severe brain injuries, she said, "he knew what was going on and turned a blind eye to it."

Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com.