Dallas Man Gets Life for Cutting 3-year-old Boy's Penis With Pruning Shears

A 32-year-old Dallas man was sentenced to life in prison for using pruning shears to circumcise his girlfriend's 3-year-old son.Roger Hooton pleaded guilty this week to felony injury to a child, and State District Judge Teresa Hawthorne sentenced him. The boy's mother, 28-year-old Daisy Salazar, is charged with felony injury to a child for "failing to protect complainant from abusive acts," court records show. She is expected to plead guilty in January and be sentenced by Hawthorne, records show.An aunt noticed bruises on the child's face during a visit in January 2016. She took the boy and his sister to her home to keep them safe, arrest records show. The aunt checked both children for injuries and found that there was blood in the boy's underwear, even though it was two months after the abuse occurred. Hooton told the boy's aunt that he had circumcised the boy's penis because it was infected and claimed the family didn't have enough money to take the child to the doctor. Child abuse investigators interviewed the little boy, and he said Hooton had cut his "weewee.""It doesn't feel good," the boy told investigators, police records show. But that wasn't the only abuse the boy endured. He had scars covering his body that appeared to be caused by a cord or a belt and his arm had been broken, consistent with torture, prosecutors said. "He was just a beaten boy," said prosecutor Robbie Crabtree. Hooton testified in court that he was filled with anger when he abused the boy, prosecutors said. The boy, now 5, also testified. "When he was in the courtroom you could see his absolute terror every time he looked at the defendant," child abuse prosecutor Lauren Hopkins said. The boy has undergone reconstructive surgery and is living with his aunt. "He is growing into a happy and supported little boy," Hopkins said. Hooton has a lengthy criminal history in Dallas County, including an aggravated robbery conviction, records show.   Continue reading...