I wrote about 61-year-old Roger Stephens at another site last year but just to refresh your memory of the old fart Stephens is the man who slapped a two-year-old girl in the Wal-Mart in Stone Mountain, Georgia last year after he told her mother “If you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you.”

Nice.

Anyway, Stephens was sentenced yesterday to a year in jail after a bench trial was held. Both the defense and prosecutor agreed that a jury trial wasn’t needed. Personally I think Stephens would have gotten even more time than he did if a jury of his peers had anything to do with it, although getting a room full of snarling old men together at once probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.

Updated 9/3/09 – Roger Stephens had his initial court appearance and the judge has denied bond and will be held in the Gwinnett County Jail until his next court appearance on September 8th.

Original Post – When it was just the wife and I and our Marine was a wee little tyke we always went grocery shopping together. Invariably I would end up walking out of the store with the Marine crying over my shoulder, to wait in the car while my wife finished. It’s a lesson we learned well and nowadays one of us goes while the other stays at home with the kids. My girls are actually well-behaved so the wife will occasionally take them with her. I’ve never been one of those parents who are oblivious to the whining antics of a child in public and I probably hate it more than most.

61-year-old Roger Stephens of Stone Mountain apparently feels the same way but he was prepared to do something about it.

A 2-year-old girl and her mother were shopping in the Wal-Mart in Stone Mountain on Tuesday morning and the toddler started to cry. Rogers couldn’t take it and told the little girl’s mother “If you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you”.

A few seconds later Stephens grabbed the two-year-old and slapped her at least four times and then turned to tell the mother “See, I told you I would shut her up”. At that point the girl started screaming and Stephens walked away. Another shopper stopped Stephens until security could get there. Police arrived a short time later and arrested the asshole, charging him with several crimes including felony cruelty to children. He is currently being held without bond pending a hearing.