Jonathan Snow and Alyssia Kirby-Snow of Mountain Home appear to be headed toward trial next month on charges stemming from serious injuries to the couple’s then three-week-old infant.
Jonathan Snow appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday but no action was taken in his case. His wife made a similar appearance last month.
The 20-year-old Jonathan Snow is charged with first-degree battery and endangering the welfare of a minor. His wife is charged with first degree battery, permitting child abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Charges were filed against the couple as the result of an investigation launched in late February last year when the Mountain Home Police Department received a report from Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock of suspected abuse of the infant.
The hospital reported that the infant, who had been listed in critical condition while in the Little Rock hospital, had lost two pounds since its birth, had a broken clavicle, numerous bruises, bleeding and swelling of its brain and was suffering seizures.
Snow and his 31-year-old wife are listed as the parents of the child. At the time of the incident they were living together. Now, they are married, according to statements made by Kirby-Snow in court appearances.
In the opinion of the medical team which examined the infant, there is no scenario in which a single drop or fall would result in the infant’s extensive injuries. According to court records, the parents could provide investigators no explanation as to how the infant sustained the injuries, but the medical team in Little Rock suspected abuse.
In the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, Jonathan Snow is said to have told investigators that he could recall no accidents or trauma which could explain what had happened to the baby. He told investigators that he and Kirby-Snow were the only ones that had ever been alone with the baby.
The parents did say the child was experiencing seizures, or what Kirby-Snow described as “little fits”. Kirby-Snow said she did not realize that the “fits” were, in reality, seizures. According to the probable cause affidavit in Kirby-Snow’s case, it appears Jonathan Snow recorded the seizures on his cell phone. Investigators said there were 22 videos on the phone showing the seizures — all taken between 3:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. February 22nd of last year.
The baby was eventually seen by a local doctor, then brought to the emergency room at Baxter Regional Medical Center and then sent on to Arkansas Children’s Hospital after the infant suffered another seizure at BRMC.
According to court records, it appears the infant remains in foster care.
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