Ft. Carson Soldier Johnathan Klinker Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse After Killing Infant Daughter
Johnathan Klinker, 22, a soldier at Fort Carson in Colorado, pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and second-degree assault in the death of his infant daughter who died of severe bleeding of the brain.
Klinker claims his seven-week-old daughter, Nicolette, hit her head after he held her four inches off the ground by her arms, then let her drop to the floor. He said he was imitating a doctor doing a reflex test. The baby died at a hospital four days later.
However, authorities believe Klinker became frustrated when Nicolette started crying and shook her four or five times, put her into a sitting position, then let her fall to the floor. The beating resulted in multiple injuries like bruising on her face and hemorrhaging.
Klinker is facing 30 to 64 years in prison. Fort Carson officials said it is up to his commanding officer to initiate discharge proceedings.
Tags: beating, bruising, child-abuse, Fort-Carson, hemorrhaging, Johnathan-Klinker, shaken-baby-syndrome, soldierRelated Stories
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18 opinions for Ft. Carson Soldier Johnathan Klinker Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse After Killing Infant Daughter
Robot B9
Apr 21, 2007 at 10:42 am
With all these shaken baby injuries it makes me wonder if hospitals should send babies home with a sticker on their heads that says:
CAUTION: This head contains a living human brain. This developing brain is the consistency of jello, if you shake head too much brain will be damaged. Person who does this will have to live with results for the rest of their lives. They may also go to jail for the rest of their lives. Oh, and you may burn in hell too for doing this to such a perfect creation. NO RETURNS, NO REFUNDS FOR DAMAGED BRAINS!
Nikki
Apr 21, 2007 at 10:54 am
ok is this you spank a new born ? nope just testing her reflexes!!!!!
raynesmom
Apr 22, 2007 at 2:07 pm
What a stupid explaination! My parents were foster parents to nearly 30 newborns and we have NEVER seen a reflex test like that. What an idiot. Wouldn’t common sense tell you…oh, I forgot, common sense doesn’t come standard in all models of humans. I’m so sad for this baby. At least now she’s at peace and in the arms of someone who REALLY loves her.
P.S. Robot B9, Warning labels would be a good idea “warning: dropping or shaking this fragile child may result in his/her death. This WILL result in jail time, beatings from other inmates, and burning in hell for all eternity”
Rosemary Amey
Apr 22, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I am so tired of reading about people hurting their babies because the babies are crying.
Robot B9
Apr 22, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Years ago, when we brought our kids home from the hospital, they were very hyper about making sure that we had a car seat. No mention about shaken baby injuries.
Do they make an attempt these days to educate parents when they leave the hospital? Seriously, how long would it take? 1, maybe 2 minutes?
tracy
Apr 22, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Robot B9: I suppose it varies, but when I was pregnant, there was no shortage of information about Shaken Baby Syndrome - be it at the hospital, in the pamphlets/handouts/parenting books, discussions at my OB\GYN’s. Everything from what is was and what it does, to tips to help parents keep/regain their cool. Nevermind the fact that it is always in the news. So no, from what I’ve seen, it’s not like the medical community is turning a blind eye.
But my theory is that if someone actually *needs* to be told to that You Do Not Shake A Baby(!!), they have serious issues, and that info’s not going to sink in. I mean, its common sense for so many reasonns - and if takes someone else isnt going to sink in.
tracy
Apr 22, 2007 at 8:06 pm
sorry, the last part of that poorly written, but i am super sleepy.
Belinda
Apr 22, 2007 at 8:41 pm
completely agree with Tracy!! I understand instructions about feeding, sleep and bathing but a person who actually thinks that shaking a baby (ie terrifying it and causing brain damage) would actually stop a baby from crying has issues that a poster on a wall or a minute lecture from a nurse could possibly help!! Could you imagine as an adult, you were sad and you were crying and some idiot came up to you and shook you!
Lori
Apr 23, 2007 at 5:57 am
“Do they make an attempt these days to educate parents when they leave the hospital? Seriously, how long would it take? 1, maybe 2 minutes?”
I just had a baby in June 2006 and absolutely they do. At least here in Va anyway. Every mother (and father) are given release instructions(most are common sense but they have to say it anyway I guess for people like these parents) when they get ready to leave the hospital with their baby. The nurses go through about ten minutes of release instructions. They went through baby blues and postpartem depression. Putting baby on their back to sleep and other things. But they also spent about 2 minutes on “if you feel like you want to hurt your baby put your baby in a safe place and call for help”, “if you get frustrated, it is okay after you have met the baby’s needs to place the baby in a safe place and let him/her cry while you regroup.” and they also tell you about not shaking your baby. These people know when they are doing these horrid things that they may hurt their babies. It breaks my heart that a sweet little 7 week old baby girl was killed by her own daddy just because she was crying. How else would she communicate what she needs? Sickening. Something I always wonder is do the moms see that the dads have a possible anger management problem. And if so, do they at all second guess their decision to leave the baby with the inpatient father. Not blaming anyone here. I am just thinking if the father of my child was short-tempered, daddy or not, I would think twice about leaving my crying infant with him. And I dont want to say, oh well the mothers shouldn’t be with someone like that, because they will do what they do. I watch people closely. If they are short tempered, easily riled, I wouldn’t be leaving my infant with them, whether or not they are the dad. Just my 2 cents.
Sweet dreams, Sweet Baby Nicolette.
Lynnae
Apr 23, 2007 at 12:54 pm
It’s stories like these that make me wish there was some sort of regulation on breeding.
I have this fantasy where there is a way to temporarily sterilize everyone at birth, a procedure that was completely reversible… but could only be done once the parents-to-be take a child care class and pass a test showing they are fit to be parents. (It would be a free procedure once the test was passed so as not to deny those who do not make millions every year an opportunity to be a good parent.)
In an ideal world, this would reduce unplanned pregnancies - especially amongst those who are pregnant only because they were too stupid to concern themselves with birth control - and hopefully reduce the amount of parents who don’t care enough about what being a parent actually means.
If you had to go through the motions of going to the class and taking the test just to get approved for your reversal and THEN try and have a baby, I think a lot of the lazy people out there who don’t want to make the effort to be a good mom or dad wouldn’t bother with it all, and therefore wouldn’t reproduce.
And those who actually do it would prove they really want to bring a child into this world and would do what it takes to make sure that child is cared for properly.
I say fantasy of course because having something such as birth allowances regulated by government control is not really something I would ever want to see hit reality… but still… it would be nice if there was an actual way to relieve the world of these “parents” who should never have been able to procreate in the first place.
Chris, a mom of four, so far
Apr 23, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I started babysitting when I was around 11 years old (young, I know, but I grew up in a small farming community where everyone knew everyone) and I remember reading BACK THEN that you should never ever shake a baby. When I was 11 years old and nowhere near having children of my own yet.
Please. If you don’t know that by now, I don’t even know what else to say. “Never shake a baby” is as common knowledge nowadays as “Never leave your child alone in a hot car”. Although every year there are parents who do THAT, also, in spite of education and awareness *sigh*.
Michelle
Apr 26, 2007 at 1:27 pm
my son is eight years old and was born severely premature and they told me about shaken baby syndrome. Even advised all the mothers that they didnt think it advisable to put your baby in the swing right away because of the back and fourth motion on the brain. I thinkit is fairly comonplace now that new parents are informed of this. There is just no excuse! I say there is no sufficient punishment , but I would sure like to offer up a few good suggestions!!!!!
liz banks
Apr 30, 2007 at 5:12 am
I think it should be dicussed before anyone leaves the hospital but i wonder if it helps because if you are so stupid that you need to be told not to shake your baby then i dont think you would be smart enough to listen to or care about what the nurse has to say anyway. I would be interested in finding out if statistically, the shaken baby cases have gone down for areas that inform people
Lee Ann
May 10, 2007 at 7:18 pm
As a registered nurse, I have educated hundreds of new parents on caring for their newborns. And yes, new parents are still educated on the do’s and don’ts with their newborn.
As for Nicolette’s mother, she was the most loving, caring mother I have EVER seen. In fact, whenever she had a question or concern, she turned to ME for advice. Nicolette spent most of her life at my house with her mother while she was on maternity leave — Nikki Jo was my daughter’s beautiful baby girl, my precious granddaughter. I assure you, both my daughter and her husband had more education on caring for their child than the few minutes and the brochures you are given at the hospital.
The day her husband injured Nicolette, my daughter did what thousands of mom’s do every day –she trusted her husband with their baby while she went to work (she is also a Fort Carson soldier and it was her first week back after maternity leave) She would NEVER have left Nicolette with him if she had even the slightest suspicion he would hurt her. Those of you who’s comments imply my daughter may be stupid, careless, negligent or uneducated are COMPLETELY WRONG.
As for him, I cannot say why he would do such a horrible thing. I wish I knew. WHY he did it is a question my daughter, our family, our friends and myself have asked since the day it happened.
On July 9th, when he is sentenced, I will be there to ask the judge, on behalf of Nicolette, for a JUST sentencing …
But,no matter what his sentence is … it will not ease the pain in my daughter’s heart or mine.
Please be assured, Nicolette was sincerely loved by her mother, by me and our entire family.
NICOLETTE JO IS FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS!!
Mom of four, so far...
Jul 8, 2007 at 12:46 am
(((Hugs))) to you Lee Ann on the loss of your granddaughter and to your daughter if I could give her some right now, my heart goes out to all the families whose lives are shattered by this horrible act.
Your daughter has been through so much more at 20 than others have been through in an entire lifetime. And your beautiful granddaughter didn’t even have a chance. I am so sorry.
rockdoll_71
Oct 16, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Lee Ann, so so sorry for what you and your family are going through. This is such a tragic, senseless loss.
As far as he goes, I hope that they give him as much time in jail for what he did as they possibly can. If it were up to me, he would get a thousand years.
momofanangel
Nov 15, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I was Nicolette’s babysitter the week that this happened, the day that her father did that to her she was not in my care! I was also a very close friend of Nicolette’s mother & became close with her family as all of this happened. Nicolette’s mother thought that she was doing the right thing by leaving her with him & never would have done so if she thought for even a second that he would hurt her! Nicolette was her angel and we all miss Nicolette terribly!
Honestly for the longest time I had hoped that they would take his head put it in a piant can mixer & show him how it felt to be shook to death but… that still would not bring nikki back so I pray that God will change him & I remember that he will get what he deserves when judgement day comes!
Nicolette meant the world to me! the day that she was born I miscarried my child & Nicolette really filled that broken place in my heart! She will always be remembered & her mom will always be close to my heart!
rockdoll_71
Nov 16, 2007 at 10:26 am
momofanangel, I am terribly sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine losing a child. I hope you don’t blame yourself in any way for what happened to that little angel.
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