A Douglas County man faces up to 10 years in prison after being convicted Wednesday of second-degree child cruelty for standing by as his girlfriend beat her 3-year-old son.
Chad Pierre-Louis, who prosecutors had accused of joining Suzie Elie as she nearly beat her child to death, was found not guilty of aggravated assault, battery and first-degree child cruelty.
During his trial, Pierre-Louis called himself a peaceful man and said that he did not harm Elie's son.
But the jury held him responsible for doing nothing to stop the November 2011 beating. That month, Pierre-Louis joined Elie as she took her crying child to a wooded area near Ashton Court and violently beat him, kicking him and striking him with a tree limb. Elie was found guilty of beating the child in a separate trial Monday.
"A 3-year-old little boy woke up and he cried," Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ackley said during the Monday sentencing hearing for Elie, who received 20 years in prison. "And for that, he received one of the worst beatings I've ever seen."
During the beating, Ackley said, a jogger came by, saw what has happening and interrupted them.
According to the prosecution, Pierre-Louis responding by looking at the jogger and saying, "Mind your own business."
By the time the beating ended, Ackley said, the child was covered "covered head to toe in lacerations."
After the verdict was announced, Pierre-Louis' attorney told Channel 2 Action News that he knew the jury might hold his client responsible for standing by as those wounds were inflicted.
"If you witness a child under 18 being beaten and you do nothing to stop it this is what ... happen[s] to you," attorney Carl Willis said.
Pierre-Louis is scheduled to be sentenced July 30.
— David Ibata contributed to this article.
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