LOCKPORT – The new attorney for Kenneth S. Lathrop Jr., who pleaded guilty Dec. 6 to beating his baby son, said Friday he will seek to withdraw the plea because a genetic defect, not an assault, might have left the child blind in one eye.
Attorney Dominic Saraceno said his predecessor on the case, Assistant Public Defender Michele G. Bergevin, didn’t have information he received from Lathrop’s mother that three of Lathrop’s aunts and uncles are blind in one eye because of a genetic disorder that apparently runs in the family.
Saraceno presented the claim to State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. Friday, as Lathrop was to formally receive an agreed-upon sentence of seven years in prison for reckless assault on a child.
Kloch scheduled arguments for May 7 on the claim of new evidence. Lathrop, 26, of Ruhlman Road, Lockport, pleaded guilty to bouncing 3-month-old Nathan Lathrop’s head off the bathroom floor and shaking him in a Jan. 8, 2013, incident. Prosecutors said the boy, now 17 months old, was said to have permanent brain damage in addition to the partial blindness.
Attorney Dominic Saraceno said his predecessor on the case, Assistant Public Defender Michele G. Bergevin, didn’t have information he received from Lathrop’s mother that three of Lathrop’s aunts and uncles are blind in one eye because of a genetic disorder that apparently runs in the family.
Saraceno presented the claim to State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. Friday, as Lathrop was to formally receive an agreed-upon sentence of seven years in prison for reckless assault on a child.
Kloch scheduled arguments for May 7 on the claim of new evidence. Lathrop, 26, of Ruhlman Road, Lockport, pleaded guilty to bouncing 3-month-old Nathan Lathrop’s head off the bathroom floor and shaking him in a Jan. 8, 2013, incident. Prosecutors said the boy, now 17 months old, was said to have permanent brain damage in addition to the partial blindness.