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GirouxFilms

Active Member
Posted: 02/19/2014 9:59 am EST

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A National Security Agency division chief is accused of beating his recently adopted son to death.

Brian O'Callaghan, 36, was held without bail following the Feb. 3 death of 3-year-old Hyunsu O'Callaghan. The suspect and his wife adopted the boy from South Korea in October, according to WUSA.

O'Callaghan, a Marine who has served in Iraq, is the NSA's Korea Division chief and holds top-secret intelligence clearance, the Washington Post reported.

According to charging documents, the suspect said the boy slipped in the shower and hurt himself Jan. 31. O'Callaghan's wife was out of town at the time.

O'Callaghan said he spent the next day out with his son. After putting the boy down for a nap, he said he noticed a pinkish fluid staining his son's mattress, and mucus coming from his nose. He told police that the child began projectile vomiting when he picked him up, so he rushed to the hospital.

Doctors called police after determining Hyunsu had brain trauma and washemorrhaging in the eyes, according to WJLA. The child died a day later.

The boy's father was arrested Feb. 12 and charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.

An autopsy performed on Hyunsu showed the injuries were consistent with being beaten, Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Fenton told The Washington Post. The autopsy showed the boy had a fracture at the base of his skull, bruises to his forehead, and a swollen brain, among other injuries.

“Basically this child was beaten to death from head to toe,” Fenton said.

Family members of O'Callaghan have come to his defense, including his grandfather, William Rose.

“I find it impossible to believe,” Rose said. “He’s worked so hard to get this baby. He was so loving with him. He’s been so wonderful with his other child. I’ve never seen him do anything that would make me believe he is capable of that.”

Steve McCool, O'Callaghan's defense attorney, called the incident a "terrible tragedy" but not a murder.

The suspect was allowed to attend his son's memorial service.

O'Callaghan also has a 7-year-old biological son.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/...ating-toddler_n_4815492.html?utm_hp_ref=crime
 
I understand people who murder their adopted children even less than people who kill their accidental children, ... Seriously though why go through all that to kill the kid
 
Let me guess the wife wanted another kid. Seems strange to spend money and time and then beat the kid to death.
 
And a special needs child at that. All I know is that the tub didn't do it. What a douche. And, I certainly don't want that asshole reading my e-mails!
 
February 19th 2014, 6:42 am

At his hearing Tuesday, O'Callaghan's attorney also said O'Callaghan was a Marine veteran who had been involved in the rescue of Army POW Jessica Lynch. O'Callaghan served in the Marine Corps from 1997 through 2004 as sergeant.

According to his service record, O'Callaghan was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for nine months in 2003 and served in Al-Wasit Province, An Nasiriyah and Al Kut. During the An Nasiriyah deployment, O'Callaghan worked with the Civil Affairs Group -- he was tasked with keeping civilians away from battle.


His awards include: Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat "V," Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation, Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal with 1 star, Iraq Campaign Medal with 2 stars, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with 1 star and Armed Forces Reserve Medal.

An obituary posted on the web site of the Frederick News-Post gave the child's full name as Madoc Hyeonsu O'Callaghan and said he was born in South Korea. He was described in the obituary as a "smiling, content, and loving son and brother.''

"He loved his dogs, his big brother Aidan, and anything his parents made for him to eat. He wasn't dealt the simplest hand in life, but he found something to love in it every day,'' the obituary said.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nsa-official-accused-killing-adopted-son-n33451
 
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A former division chief for the National Security Agency, who admitted he hurled his 3-year-old adopted son against a wall in his Maryland home, was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday for the boy’s death.

“I killed my son,” Brian O’Callaghan, 38, said in Montgomery County Circuit Court. “He’s gone. A defenseless little boy that I loved is gone.”

Prosecutors argued the abuse of Madoc lasted longer than the single outburst.

“This was not the end of it. We know from the autopsy that there were multiple impact injuries,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Donna Fenton, who had asked for a 40-year sentence, “this child was beaten to death.”

The six-hour sentencing hearing swung from raw emotion — Madoc’s death while his older brother was downstairs and confused by noises he was hearing — to clinical discussions of O’Callaghan’s state of mind. He had served as a Marine in tours of Kosovo and Iraq, seen the aftermath of explosions, seen dead children and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, testimony showed.

His attorney, Steven McCool, described that history as a mitigating factor. “He didn’t set out to do this,” he said.

As attorneys delved into O’Callaghan’s medical records at the hearing, it became clear he had hidden his illness from an adoption agency as he and his wife sought to bring a child to the United States from South Korea. They already had another son at home.

At one point, according to Circuit Judge John Debelius, a counselor from the Department of Veterans Affairs guided O’Callaghan on how to taper his dosage of psychotropic medications so he could pass a drug screening required in the adoption process. The VA instead should have been advising him to abandon adoption plans, the judge said.

“It’s appalling to me,” Debelius said.

He agreed that PTSD was a factor in the crime. “All of this took its toll,” the judge said, speaking to O’Callaghan. “It didn’t cause this. But it set you up to make an incredibly horrible choice.”

In court Tuesday, Richard Restak, a neuropsychiatrist hired by O’Callaghan’s attorney, said that at the time, O’Callaghan was facing post-traumatic stress disorder, a short-temper disorder, changes to his medications and a very stressful job. “The combination of explosiveness and irritability and things like that would make him frustration-intolerant,” Restak said.

The judge said whether O’Callaghan killed the child in a single outburst, or beat him 12 times, was a distinction that mattered less to him than the final outcome.

“The fact of it is this, you beat this child to death,” he told O’Callaghan. “There is not a kind and gentle way to do that. I can’t parse it out ... It was horrible. It was absolutely horrible. For Madoc’s sake, I hope this was quick.”

Before Debelius handed down his sentence, O’Callaghan spoke.

“There never should have been a place safer on earth for Madoc than being alone in a room with me,” said O’Callaghan, standing up in court and wearing a dark green jail jumpsuit. “But that day, he was not safe with me.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...c5600a-4db0-11e6-a422-83ab49ed5e6a_story.html
 
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