Coram felon gets prison in child whipping
Hungry Horse News
A Coram man was sentenced to three years in prison for felony assault on his 7-year-old daughter in December 2003.
Saying she could not ignore his lengthy criminal past, which she said might explain his violent behavior, District Court Judge Katherine Curtis sentenced Michael Bartosh, 39, on March 24 to five years in prison with two years suspended.
Flathead County deputy attorney Lori Adams had recommended a five-year sentence with all five years suspended, but Curtis took note of Bartosh's 23-page FBI rap sheet dating back to 1978. Bartosh had committed a felony or violent offense every year during a 12-to-13-year period in the past, Curtis said.
"I don't understand how this 'spanking' got so elevated," she said. "The only conclusion I can draw is that you are reverting back to your previous criminal history."
Bartosh tearfully admitted that he "over spanked" his daughter with a belt after she got into trouble at school. He said he was very frustrated at the time and called his mother for advice on how to discipline his daughter.
"I don't know how know how to spank kids, and this will never happen again, I promise you," he said.
"In my view, this is not a spanking, and you can call it a spanking until the day you die, but in my view this is a whipping, and you don't whip kids," Curtis said, referring to photos of the injured child contained in Bartosh's pre-sentence investigation report.
The report also contained transcripts from telephone conversations in which Bartosh allegedly asked his wife, Dawn Collins, to help him beat the assault charge, and in which he allegedly maligned Curtis.
Bartosh apologized in court for what he said on the phone, saying he was "very scared" and was "playing games."
Curtis said the phone conversations seemed to indicate Bartosh did not feel as responsible for his acts as he did when he pleaded guilty Feb. 11.
Bartosh told the court he had turned his life around since 2000 after he was diagnosed with diabetes. He said he recently lost his construction job when Keystone Contractors went out of business, and he admitted he's about $7,000 behind in child support payments.
Flathead County sheriff's deputies, however, were called to Bartosh's home in November last year after several of his neighbors claimed he had threatened them because they filed a trespass complaint against Bartosh and his wife. Bartosh's bail was doubled to $100,000 in December, and he was placed in the Flathead County Detention Center. He was released on his own recognizance in February.
In court, a social worker with the state's Child Protective Services contradicted Bartosh's claims that he was doing everything he could to get his life together. She said Bartosh had missed chemical dependency sessions and was inconsistent in sending letters and postcards to his daughter. At this rate, she said, Bartosh might not complete his treatment in time for a termination of custody hearing.
"From what we have in our records, what he is doing in minimal," the social worker said.
The social worker said Bartosh's young daughter suffers from extreme post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her upbringing under a mother who abused alcohol and heroin and a father who admitted to a long history of alcohol abuse. She said the young girl also suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and will always be a special education student in school.
After hearing Curtis' sentencing order, Bartosh's attorney, Mark Sullivan, called for a jury trial, claiming his client was assured he could withdraw his guilty plea if Curtis did not abide with the state's recommendation.
Curtis, however, denied Sullivan's motion after looking at the unofficial transcript to the Feb. 11 change of plea hearing, and she remanded Bartosh to jail.