Two cases of domestic violence made local headlines last week. In one case, a man killed himself after being convicted in Ottawa County District Court of child abuse.

Domestic Violence vs Child Abuse

In the second, an Oklahoma City mother pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child abuse and child neglect, bringing closure to a case of child abuse so extreme it attracted national attention in 2009. Christopher William Good, 24, was convicted of Oklahoma child abuse last Friday after a jury deliberated for four hours. Good was not present when the verdict was delivered and an Ottawa County judge sentenced him to eleven years in prison and issued a warrant for his arrest. Instead, Good was at his mother's home, talking with his defense lawyer, who was trying to convince him to turn himself in to authorities.

Later, sheriff's deputies and firefighters responding to an emergency call found Good dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Good's conviction was the result of a 2006 incident in which he was accused of severely beating his then-girlfriend's 15-month-old daughter. (read about charges of child abuse)

The girl, now five years old, had cigarette burns, a broken wrist, and fractured skull, and authorities said she was "bruised from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet." The girl suffered brain damage as a result of the abuse, and now lives with her father. Her mother, Elizabeth Dawn Crafton, 25, was sentenced in 2007 to twenty years in prison for enabling child abuse.

Also gaining media attention last week was LaRhonda Marie McCall, 38, who pleaded guilty to thirty-three counts of child abuse and three counts of child neglect in the culmination of a case of child abuse so severe it made national headlines. In 2009, 15-year-old Bernell McCall (now 16), ran away from home and told police he spent most of his time locked in a closet.

The teen told police of several horrifying incidents of domestic abuse in Oklahoma City at the hands of his mother and an accomplice, Steve V. Hamilton, 40. LaRhonda McCall admitted to locking the boy in a closet for extended periods of time and to hitting him with boards, cables, and extension cords.

She also said she cut her son with a knife, restrained him with duct tape, made him stand in snow and ice, set fire to him, choked him, and restrained him and poured sugar over him so that insects would bite him. McCall and Hamilton, who pleaded guilty Nov. 24, face sentencing on January 20, 2011.

It is likely that McCall will receive multiple life sentences. For more information visit our homepage.