Probation given in
death of infant

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A former Makakilo man who pleaded no contest to recklessly causing the death of his 4-month-old son has been sentenced to 10 years' probation.

In sentencing Robert Coy to probation yesterday, Circuit Judge Richard Perkins said he believed that Coy's remorse was genuine and that he will have to live with the burden of contributing to his son's death for the rest of his life.

Robert Dennis Coy III died May 8, 2000, after falling from a bed and losing consciousness.

Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Ching had asked that Coy, 30, be placed on 10 years' probation, with at least one year in prison.

Doctors at Tripler Hospital had said the baby suffered from bleeding in the brain and had been shaken. The city medical examiner also concluded that the baby had been shaken and died not accidentally, but as a result of homicide, Ching said.

Brook Hart, Coy's attorney, characterized his client as a man who tried to save his son by doing what he thought was appropriate without thinking of the legal consequences and, through his frustration and overreaction, contributed to his son's death.

Coy had learned from CPR training that shaking and shouting at someone to get a response was proper, but has since learned that it is not the right response for babies, Hart said.

Coy said he had placed the infant on the bed after changing him and had gone to the bathroom when he heard a thump and saw his son lying on the floor. "I thought, 'I'll go pick him up, comfort him and he'll be OK,' but it didn't turn out that way."

Coy picked up the infant and began panicking when his son gasped for air. Trying desperately to recall his CPR training, Coy tried to revive him, to no avail. When he could not reach his wife, Nancy, he called 911. While on the phone with a 911 operator, his son gasped again.

"Robert, come back," Coy recalled saying. "I was desperate to save him. If I could bring him back, I would."

He later told his wife that he had shaken his son during his efforts to revive him.

The devastation he experienced after his son's death was indescribable, Coy said. "My son died. I had a hand it that. The guilt is overwhelming. I'm truly sorry."

Perkins said given Coy's lack of intent, the circumstances surrounding the baby's fall and evidence the infant may have suffered from a disorder that causes excessive bleeding even from short falls, it would not be unreasonable to infer that the baby's death might have been an unfortunate accident.

Rather than take his chances with a jury, Coy agreed not to contest a reckless-manslaughter charge under a plea agreement that deleted a mandatory minimum sentence of six years and eight months and made him eligible for probation.

Coy, who suffered from extreme depression after his son died, continues to undergo therapy. He also has learned infant CPR and researched von Willebrand disease, a bleeding disorder.