Arkansas father pleads innocent in infant-abuse case

TEXARKANA -- A man accused of causing serious injuries to his infant daughter pleaded innocent Tuesday in circuit court.

Charles Uribe, 28, appeared before Circuit Judge Carlton Jones and entered a plea of innocent to battery of a child younger than 4.

Uribe's wife, Crystal, submitted paperwork for a continuance in her case. Crystal Uribe, 23, is to appear May 1 for arraignment.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell filed a single document earlier this month charging Charles and Crystal Uribe, indicating that the state intends to try both defendants before a single jury in one trial. Both face 10-40 years or life in prison if convicted.

The couple were arrested in mid-February after staff members at Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana notified law enforcement officers about a baby in critical condition who was being taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, according to testimony that Miller County sheriff's office investigator Patsy DeHart gave at a hearing last month.

DeHart described a pattern of injuries that she said appeared to have been caused on varying dates based on their stages of healing.

She said the infant suffered two breaks in her pelvis, a broken leg and a head injury.

DeHart said doctors told her that petechiae in the baby's eyes was evidence of the child straining to cry or not cry, and that injuries to the baby's esophagus led medical experts to conclude that something had been shoved into the infant's throat.

Texarkana lawyer Danny Cook has filed a petition on Crystal Uribe's behalf in Miller County seeking a divorce from Charles Uribe. Court records show that Charles Uribe signed a document March 1 in the divorce case to waive his right to receive notice of court hearings.

Bail for Charles and Crystal Uribe has been set at $250,000 each.

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Metro on 04/22/2018

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