A man who fatally injured his infant son was sentenced in Cumberland County Superior Court on Friday to a combined 14-year state prison sentence under the terms of a plea agreement.
Ronald L. Cuff Jr., now 20, inflicted brain trauma on the 2-month-old in the course of badly shaking the baby. Cuff also did not seek medical care for the injured baby, Ronald III.
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Cuff entered a guilty plea this January to second-degree reckless manslaughter, downgraded from a murder charge, and child endangerment. Two other charges were dismissed.
He also pleaded guilty at that time in an unrelated case, admitting to possession of a prohibited weapon on school grounds.
Authorities had charged the mother, Melina A. Vega of Millville, with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She will not face trial, though.
Vega applied to the state’s pre-trial intervention program in January. She was accepted last month, against the recommendation of the program director.
County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae approved Vega, now 21 years old, because she had cooperated in the case and had taken the baby to a hospital. Vega’s record will be purged if she completes the program.
State Deputy Public Defender Charles Sandilos, who represented Cuff, initially asked the court to postpone the sentencing.
Cuff, who was free on bail, wanted to attend a Family Court hearing regarding his daughter. The girl was the subject of a second child endangerment charge filed against Cuff, he added.
Assistant Prosecutor Elizabeth Vogelsong objected, noting one previous postponement.
“The original plea was in January,†Judge James Swift agreed. “It’s now April. I think we need to get it done with.â€
Sandilos also asked the court to consider some leniency. “I think Mr. Cuff has learned his lesson with regard to care of a baby,†he said.
Sandilos also cited a report from a Dr. Joel Morgan, a neuropsychologist who had examined Cuff. The report provided grounds for the court to find some mitigating factors, he said.
Morgan reported that Cuff was “ill-equipped†to be a parent, was a special education student throughout his school years, was abused growing up and had a “low intellectual†capacity.
“The death of a child is extremely serious,†Sandilos said. “I’m not sure the way Dr. Morgan presented this that he really did intend to cause serious harm to his baby.â€
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Swift told the defendant that his sentence was significant but could have been “substantially worse†without the plea deal.
The judge noted that Cuff had seven arrests as a juvenile and now, as an adult, three indictable convictions. That record did not suggest reasons to lighten the sentence, the judge said.
Swift sentenced Cuff to 10 years in prison on the reckless manslaughter charge. He must serve 85 percent of that term, or eight and a half years, to be eligible for parole. He also will be under parole supervision for three years when he is released.
Cuff also was sentenced to four years in prison on the child endangerment charge. That term starts after the expiration of his 10-year term. Cuff does get credit for being in the county jail for 540 days while awaiting trial.
Cuff also was given one year in prison on a fourth-degree weapon possession charge stemming from an incident in January 2011.
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