Man pleads guilty to assaulting infant

A remorseful Cloquet man pleaded guilty to shaking, squeezing and dropping his infant daughter, telling the court Monday that he "snapped" in a moment of mental weakness and hates himself for it.

Orion Harrison Sinclair Verbist, 25, pleaded guilty in Sixth District Carlton County Court to felony assault in the first degree, causing great bodily harm, without any kind of plea deal from the prosecution.

Verbist had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge in early March, and his attorneys had challenged the admissibility of the court using his statement to police.

His lead attorney, public defender John Douglas Schmid, noted that the judge had not ruled on that challenge yet, and explained that a guilty plea would mean the judge wouldn't have to. Schmid went through a long list of things - jury trial, right to cross examine witnesses, right to testify, etc. - that Verbist was giving up by pleading guilty.

Verbist said he understood everything and wanted to plead guilty.

Before he could do that, he first had to tell the court what happened on Nov. 6, 2018, the day his daughter ended up in the hospital with injuries from which she is still recovering.

Verbist, who lived in Cloquet with his girlfriend and daughter, said he woke up to his daughter crying to be fed or changed, as usual. He changed her but she wouldn't eat and was still crying. He had been under some stress and not getting enough sleep.

"Something snapped," he said. "I shook her and squeezed her and ended up dropping her. After I realized I had potentially harmed her, I picked her up and tried stimulating her."

According to the criminal complaint, Verbist had called the baby's mother and told her she wouldn't stop crying and was breathing funny, so she came home from work and they took the 3-month-old to Community Memorial Hospital.

"I wasn't truthful with the doctors about what happened," the tearful Verbist told the courtroom.

According to the criminal complaint, Verbist allegedly told CMH medical staff that he thought the baby was choking and that he had patted her on the back more firmly than normal. After noting that the baby was hypothermic, the infant was sent home. When he was asked by the baby's mother what happened, according to the criminal complaint, Verbist allegedly said that he was bouncing the baby like he always does and nothing had happened.

At 7:30 p.m. that evening, the mother heard a strange cry from the baby and said she believed the infant was having seizures, so they took the baby to St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth. At the St. Luke's ER, a CAT scan showed a skull fracture and a subdural hematoma, a collection of blood in the space between the middle and outer membranes covering the brain, usually caused by trauma to the head.

The infant was transferred from St. Luke's to Essentia and ultimately to Children's Hospital in Minneapolis, where she underwent a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure inside her skull. The baby was also diagnosed with a likely fracture to her arm, a fractured rib and possibly a second fractured rib, retinal hemorrhage, multiple seizures and multiple areas of bruising.

His attorney verified with Verbist that he has seen his daughter's medical records, and been a part of discussions about those.

"You understand there is some permanent damage," he asked. "You have no reason to doubt that she suffered permanent injury and great bodily harm?"

"I do not," Verbist answered.

Schmid asked Verbist if he remembered what was going through his mind when the assault happened. Verbist said he didn't.

"I hate myself for it," he said. "It was a moment of mental weakness. I lost control of my emotions and didn't regain control to not do it."

"Do you have any reason to doubt you are indeed guilty of what you say you did," Schmid asked his client.

"No," Verbist answered.

Judge Macaulay ordered a presentence investigation and granted the request from Verbist to be sent to prison as soon as possible, even before he is sentenced.

The sentencing hearing was set for May 31.

Assistant Carlton County attorney Jeffrey Boucher said he will ask the court for a sentence "in the middle of the box" or range, likely 86 months, or just over seven years. Schmidt said he would argue for lower end, closer to 74 months. The sentencing decision will be the judge's: there was no "deal" in this case, just a straight-up guilty plea.

Also Monday, Verbist pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor "disorderly conduct-brawling or fighting" for getting into a physical altercation when a verbal argument escalated during his time in jail. Judge Macaulay sentenced him to 63 days, with credit for 42 days served, and the sentence to run concurrently with the first-degree assault sentence.