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Posted: 1:32 PM- A man who allowed his fiancee's disabled 5-year-old child to starve while she was serving in Iraq was found guilty today of second-degree felony child abuse.
Michael John Bowden faces a 90-day evaluation at Utah State Prison after he appears for sentencing Sept. 7 before 3rd District Judge Robert Hilder, who handed down today's verdict. Bowden, 26, ultimately could serve up to 15 years in prison.
Defense attorneys argued that Bowden, himself a veteran, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and did not knowingly harm his fiancee's daughter, Jade Anzures, whose weight dropped from 35 to 13 pounds. They asked his charge be reduced to a third-degree felony.
Hilder denied the request. While agreeing the abuse was not intentional, the judge ruled that Bowden knew the child was suffering and should have sought medical help for her.
As Jade grew increasingly emaciated during the summer of 2006, Bowden was mostly "in a drunken stupor," defense attorneys stated.
Prosecutor William Kendall argued that Bowden's behavior reflected knowing indifference to Jade's condition. Instead of caring for the girl, Bowden played poker, billiards and softball, Kendall said.
Meanwhile, he was spending Jade's monthly Social Security checks and the military paychecks Jade's mother, Anahi Ferrando, was depositing in their joint checking account, Kendall said.
The girl - who suffers from severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy - was in good health, according to her mother, before she was deployed to Iraq at the end of April 2006.
Four months later, on Aug. 22, 2006, the girl was "skin and bones," testified her grandfather, Raphael Ferrando, who took her from Bowden and rushed her to a hospital after obtaining a protective order.
Jade, now 6, is "doing good now," Ferrando said. "She's getting ready to start school and is up to the weight she should be - close to 35 pounds."
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