MONROE, Mich. – A Monroe County Circuit Court judge says he is so haunted by the abuse of a 2-year-old South Rockwood boy suffered that he will remember it forever.
“I know we’re not supposed to personalize this, but this is an event I will think about every day of my life," Judge Michael Weipert said.
Weipert sentenced Roger Schear to 25 to 40 years in prison Thursday after Schear pleaded no contest to open murder and child abuse charges in the death of his then-girlfriend's son, Caius Henry.
The boy was rushed from the Village Place apartments to a hospital on April 30, 2015, but died the next day. A medical examiner said Caius died from blunt force trauma.
Schear told the court that he was "deeply sorry," but Weipert called Schear's treatment of the boy "barbaric."
"What really establishes to this court that your knowledge of the wrongfulness of what you were doing, the guilt that you have in this case, is the urging of you to the victim's mother not to say anything," Weipert said. "I've been in this practice for some 33 years. This is one of the most heinous crimes that I have ever seen."
Weipert said he seriously considered rejected the sentence agreement because he believes that Schear should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Caius' mother, Jordan Henry, who is also charged with child abuse for leaving her son in Schear's care, told the court before Schear's sentencing he lied to her and manipulated her.
"I should not have let you watch him," she said. "I can't believe I trusted you ... I will never forgive myself."
Henry's trial is slated to begin in March.
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