Please watch the video below before reading further. Our exploration of the ramifications surrounding this story will never be fully understood without first viewing for yourself what we are dealing with here. . .
Is punishing a 7-year-old boy by putting hot sauce in his mouth child abuse? How about forcing him, pleading and screaming, into a cold shower?
This week in Anchorage Alaska, a jury will be reviewing the case of Jessica Beagley, a mother charged with misdemeanor child abuse after the above footage appeared on the Dr. Phil show last year.
To be considered abuse, the jury must decide if the punishment was cruel, torturous and disproportionate to what the child did. According to testimony, the boy, one of a set of twins recently adopted from Russia, got into trouble at school for sword-fighting with pencils and then denied it when his mother asked about it.
To be clear - he got into trouble at school and lied about it. Did his "crime" warrant this severe of a punishment?
