Zachary McCollum, charged with squeezing his then three-month-old-son with such force that he heard the infant’s ribs crack, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and was sentenced to 35 years in prison after changing his plea to guilty on charges stemming from the incident.
According to the probable cause affidavit, McCollum told investigators he had been high on methamphetamine when the incident took place and estimated he had squeezed the infant for about three minutes after he became upset when the baby would not stop crying.
The 24-year-old McCollum said the incident took place at the residence of the baby’s maternal grandparents in Midway in March of last year just prior to the time his family moved to Royce City, Texas.
An investigation was launched into the incident when Arkansas authorities received reports from Children’s Medical Center in Dallas indicating the infant was brought to the facility April 9th last year and that 18 healing rib fractures as well as a left femur corner fracture were detected.
McCollum was interviewed February 7th by a special agent with the Arkansas State Police regarding the injuries to his infant son. He was arrested and jailed on charges of first-degree battery February 15th and has been in the Baxter County Detention Center since that time with his bond set at $100,000.
At the conclusion of his sentencing, Judge John Putman asked McCollum if he had anything he wanted to say, and he said he did not.
He also faces the revocation of two suspended sentences in Marion County cases filed in 2012 and 2014. Those cases remain active, and Judge Putman has set a tentative hearing date on the revocations for October 25th, according to court records.
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