Judge won't reduce sentence

By KIM PREDHAM

Staff Writer

A Beachwood woman who withheld food and restrained her 5-year-old foster child lost her bid to have her sentence reconsidered yesterday.

Superior Court Judge Peter J. Giovine heard a request from Cynthia Davison yesterday to reconsider her four-year prison sentence, but ruled yesterday that his original sentence was still appropriate.

Davison, 49, of Spruce Street, wanted the judge to review an evaluation that was prepared before her July sentence, said First Assistant Deputy Public Defender Eugenia M. Lynch.

The report, which was not submitted to Giovine before sentencing, would have given the judge an opportunity to see that Davison was under a "great deal" of stress when she abused her foster child, Lynch said.

The girl weighed 21 pounds and had injuries consistent with being restrained for considerable periods of time when authorities found her in December 2004, officials said.

In July, Giovine sentenced Davison to four years in prison for aggravated assault. She will be ineligible for parole until she serves 85 percent of that sentence.

Giovine also sentenced Davison's husband, Ernest, who had pleaded guilty to endangering the girl's welfare.

Ernest Davison, 52, had admitted to ignoring his wife's abuse. Giovine sentenced him to three years in prison.

The Davisons had cared for special-needs children, and in 2004 authorities said they found two adopted children and a second foster children living with them.

All the children were removed from the Davisons' custody, and the abused girl recovered quickly, Supervising Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Deborah Hanlon-Schron has said.

Giovine noted yesterday that he allowed Cynthia Davison to be sentenced as a third-degree offender (allowing her a lighter sentence) because of her work with disabled children, and because she had no prior criminal record.

But in light of the abused girl's injuries, Giovine said that he still agreed with his original sentence.

"This report does not present the defendant in any better light," Giovine said.