Family Forum / Parenting / Spanking / September 2007

The Free Press  / STPNS
September 26, 2007
CRIME
Kyle man faces felony for spanking
By Jen Biundo
for The Free Press
BUDA, Texas (STPNS) --
A Kyle man is on trial this week facing felony charges for spanking his
13-year-old daughter with a wooden paddle.  
Mark Taylor, the girl’s biological father, and Steve Smith, her
mother’s boyfriend, were both arrested on Feb. 16, 2007, and charged with
Injury to a Child, a third-degree felony, after the girl told her middle
school teachers that she had been beaten.
Child Protective Service (CPS) caseworkers removed the girl, her two
siblings and a step-sister from the Kyle home of Smith and the girl’s
mother, Dona Simmons.
  Investigators reported the girl had purple bruises on her bottom, and
she told them it was painful to sit down after the spanking.
Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe noted that corporal punishment
is legal in Texas.
“We’re not saying people don’t have a right to discipline their
children, but there is a difference between corporal punishment and child
abuse,” Tibbe said. “Every case is different.”
No states have banned spanking at home, though California State Assembly
Member Sally J. Lieber announced this January that she would sponsor a bill
making it a misdemeanor to spank children 3 years old or younger.
Taylor, his wife, Smith and Simmons discussed the girl’s behavior
amongst themselves and decided to discipline her using corporal punishment,
they told investigators. The two men said they spanked the girl for
breaking family rules such as wearing make-up.
The girl’s grandmother, who took the children, told investigators Smith
was controlling and had pulled the phone out of the wall when the
13-year-old girl tried to call her.
Taylor’s trial began Monday and is expected to run most of the week,
Tibbe said. District Judge Jack Robison is hearing the case.
Taylor’s attorney, Victoria Brown, did not return calls for comment
Tuesday afternoon.
Hays CISD spokesperson Julie Jerome said all school employees are required
by state law to report suspected child abuse or neglect to CPS or law
enforcement officials.
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