Everyone had their eyes fixed on the woman standing on the courtroom floor as she read a prepared statement--that is, everyone except convicted child abuser Jonathan Dunn.
An official victims' advocate from the Cache County Attorney's Office read a letter to Judge Kevin Allen, written by the mother of a child who had been physically abused by Dunn, on Monday in the First District Court in Logan, Utah. The advocate requested that she and the mother of the abused child only be identified as the victim's advocate and the victim, respectively.
Dunn was scheduled to be sentenced Monday for a second-degree felony child abuse charge, to which he pleaded guilty on Jan. 9. But his attorney, Bryan Galloway, requested Allen to extend the sentencing date so he could bring a letter from Dunn's therapist to the court.
The moment Galloway said this, the victim, sitting in the second row of the courtroom, threw her hands up and gasped in apparent shock and frustration. She immediately began whispering to her family members sitting next to her and to her advocate in the front row.
The victim approached the bar and leaned over to speak to prosecuting attorney Spencer Walsh. He then informed Allen that the victim had traveled from Montana for the sentencing, and would not be able to make the trip back at a future date. Walsh requested that the sentencing continue as planned for this reason, and requested a chance for the victim to address the court.
The advocate then approached the podium and read a written statement from the victim. The letter contained vivid details of the abuse her then six-month-old son endured at the hands of Dunn. The infant had a broken arm, a concussion, and the victim claimed he would have died if he had been hit any harder. Dunn stared at the ground in front of him the entire time the letter was being read.
"My son has nightmares," the letter said. "He won't sleep in his crib. He freaks out when someone claps their hands around him."
The victim, through the written statement, urged the judge to send Dunn to prison, not just the county jail, with no possibility of probation.
Allen then ruled that he would extend the sentencing to May 1, resulting in another gasp from the victim. He then said he would take Dunn into custody until then, to which she gave a sigh of relief. Dunn was escorted out of the courtroom by Cache County Sheriff's Deputies and taken to jail.
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