FAYETTE COUNTY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Anthony Ciliberti, Jr., Prosecuting Attorney, announces that on March 10, 2022, Carson L. Blankenship, age 20 of Oak Hill, pled guilty to one count of felony child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of felony child neglect resulting in serious bodily injury regarding his seven-week- old infant. Blankenship will face three to twenty years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Paul M. Blake, Jr. on April 25, 2022.
On September 3, 2019, police and child protective services responded to Raleigh General Hospital after the parents brought their baby to the emergency department with a swollen leg.
Doctors also documented that the baby was dehydrated and in obvious pain. The seven-week-old infant was eventually admitted to Women & Children’s Hospital where testing confirmed that six of the infant’s ribs and two bones in the right leg had healing fractures that were at least seven days old. Neither parent offered an adequate explanation for the infant’s injuries; however, eventually Blankenship admitted that he squeezed and shook the baby out of frustration.
This crime was investigated by the West Virginia State Police. The case was prosecuted by Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jennifer D. Crane and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney William C. Burdick.
