Jury Finds Consaul Guilty On Child Abuse Charge

By Veronique Masterson

LAS CRUCES — A Dona Ana County jury has returned a guilty verdict in the case of a manchargedina child abuse case, ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom has reported.

Daniel Consaul, 22, was accused of trying to make his 2-month-old nephew stop crying by wrapping him up in a blanket, thenlying him face down in October 2005. The infant soon vomited and had a seizure. The boy, now 2-years old, suffers from brain damage.

Consaul sat emotionless as Judge Douglas Driggers read the jury’s verdict. “We find the defendant guilty of child abuse resulting in death or great bodily harm,” Driggers read aloud.

During the week-long trial, Consaul’s defense team contended that the child’s seizure was caused by too much intravenous fluid given at UNM hospital in Albuquerque. Jurors rejected the argument and agreed with the prosecution’s version of events, echoed by prosecutor Susan Riedel.

“He suffocated Jack. There is no question in my mind, that Jack suffered a terrible injury to his brain, as a resultof[Consaul’s] actions,” Riedel said.

Consaul is scheduledto be sentencedin 60 days. Under mandatory sentencing, he faces 18 years in prison.