WHEATON – DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett today announced that Christopher Murphy, 20 (d.o.b. 12/31/1985), of 18W 543 Mockingbird Lane, Willowbrook was sentenced to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to one count of Aggravated Battery of a Child, a Class X Felony.

            Judge Robert Anderson sentenced Murphy after he admitted he had dropped the infant into a bassinet and, on at least one occasion, had violently removed the baby from a swing and from a car seat while angry at the infant’s mother.  Murphy will be required to serve 85% of the 12 year sentence, which amounts to slightly more than 10 years in jail.

            “As a prosecutor and as a father, child abuse cases are some of the most emotionally difficult cases to prosecute,” commented Birkett.  “What is particularly heart wrenching about this case is the age of the victim, an innocent infant only months old.  I am very pleased with today’s sentencing.  Mr. Murphy will have the next ten years to think about the physical as well as emotional harm he brought to his own child.  We are all very grateful to all of the good people who have helped this child recover.  He is now a healthy and happy two-year old.  I would like to commend Assistant State’s Attorneys Bob Berlin and Ann Celine O’Hallaren for their fine work on this difficult case.”

            Birkett’s office has filed an abuse and neglect petition seeking termination of Murphy’s parental rights.

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