Lynn father gets four to five years for beating infant

SALEM – A Lynn father convicted of beating his 10-week-old infant son, causing fractures to the child?s ribs and collar bone, was sentenced Monday to serve four to five years in state prison.James S. Frary, 42, last known address of 100 Willow St., Lynn, was convicted late last Friday in Salem Superior Court of a charge of assault and battery on a child causing injury to his 10-week-old son, Evan Frary.Linda Williams, the grandmother of Evan, pleaded with Judge David A. Lowy on Monday to impose the maximum punishment under the law of five years in state prison.?When we heard guilty Friday, we felt he (Evan) was safe from a monster. I am asking for the maximum. Five years is not enough, he deserves more,” she said.However, the state statue for the crime calls for a maximum punishment of five years in state prison and has no minimum mandatory punishment.The charge arises out of an incident in Lynn on June 15, 2010 when Frary was observed by an eyewitness striking his infant son three times in the stomach area.Shauna-Leigh Depaz LeBlanc testified she was inside St. Stephen?s Church, located at 71 South Common St., at around 7:40 p.m., for premarital counseling with her fiancé and heard a baby crying outside in the parking lot.She described how she went over to the first-floor window and saw the man in a van holding and rocking the baby at first, but then saw him “cock his arm back and pushed it forward and backward three times, striking the infant in the stomach area.?The baby stopped crying. I thought the baby died,” she testified.Police arrived at the scene and spoke to Frary, who told them he was comforting his son because he was crying while denying he struck him.Evidence produced by the prosecutor confirmed that the infant had a fractured collar bone as well as several rib fractures. The infant also had other rib fractures and injuries, but those weren?t recent.Frary did not take the stand in his own defense, but denied he struck his child.Assistant District Attorney Jessica M. Strasnick argued Monday for the four- to five-year punishment, reminding Lowy how the incident “affected their family and Evan.”Lowy, in handing down the punishment, questioned from the bench how a “parent can punch a 10 week old in the chest.”?I can?t understand how someone could do this,” Lowy said while stressing that Frary “has to be punished.”