by Dennis Dalman
A jury in Stearns County Court acquitted a Sartell man who was arrested in early 2018 and charged with two felony counts of child abuse.
On May 30, Brandon Taylor Roske, 23, was acquitted of one count of third-degree assault and one count of malicious punishment of a child under the age of 4. The jury delivered its not-guilty verdict after a three-day trial.
According to the complaint in January 2018, in late December 2017 Roske was at a residence when a 5-month-old boy’s diaper needed changing. Roske said he’d placed the child on a marble-topped counter and when he, Roske, turned away to grab towels, he heard a loud “thud” sound. When he turned around, he noticed the boy’s forehead looked reddish and assumed the boy had “headbutted” the countertop.
Roske was arrested on Jan. 3, 2018. A report from a doctor said the injuries to the child’s face indicated abuse. Roske was released on a $10,000 bail, at which time he was ordered not to have any contact with the victim or the victim’s residence.
The jury cleared Roske of blame for the incident.
