Ephrata man sentenced for assault

EPHRATA — A Ephrata man was sentenced for an assault involving his infant daughter, who received bruises on her body and a skull fracture. Medicals records, however, do not prove whether or not the man is responsible for the girl’s head injury.

Alejandro Bernal, 22, of Ephrata, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in Grant County Superior Court. Following a joint recommendation between Deputy Prosecutor Anna Gigliotti and defense attorney Robert Kentner, Grant County Superior Court Judge John Knodell sentenced Bernal to three months in jail, with 12 months of community custody.

Bernal was initially charged with second-degree assault of a child and fourth-degree assault, but the charges were amended in a plea agreement between Gigliotti and Kentner. Gigliotti explained that the driving force between the amending of the charges was that no proof could be gathered as to whether the injuries Bernal’s daughter received were intentional or not.

“Something happened where the child’s skull was fractured. However, there is no, at this point in time, there is no medical proof to show with medical certainty it was not accidental,” Gigliotti explained on Monday.

In early January the Ephrata Police Department received a call from Child Protective Services (CPS) for a welfare check at a residence in the 100 block of G Street Southeast. CPS requested police check on a 10-month-old girl who was reported to have “extensive bruising.”

CPS initially received a referral from Columbia Basin Hospital after the girl’s mother brought her into the emergency room, claiming the girl rolled off of a bed. Hospital staff examined the victim and determined the extent of the infant’s bruising did not match the mother’s story. Hospital staff also advised some of the bruising on the girl was new, but she also had older bruising on her body. A CT Scan later revealed the girl received a skull fracture.

The girl’s mother was interview by police and again stated her daughter rolled off of a bed. She later told officers she had lied and said earlier in the evening she picked up a drunk Bernal and drove him to their G Street residence.

She said she, her daughter, and Bernal went into their home, but she had to leave the girl with Bernal as she retrieved a bottle out of her car. When she returned to the house Bernal told her to take the baby. She said Bernal threw the girl onto a bed and it was then that she noticed a bump on the back of the infant’s head and bruises on her body.

When he was interviewed by police Bernal admitted to drinking eight or nine beers at a friend’s house and getting drunk, but he advised he remembered everything that occurred before he was contacted by police. He denied assaulting his daughter and offered a similar account to the story the girl’s mother gave.

Bernal said he was holding his daughter when her mother left the room and when she returned, the girl started crying. He went on to claim when he handed the girl over, the girl’s mother discovered a lump on her head and “freaked out.”

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.