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A 22-year-old man admitted causing the injuries to his then-2-year-old son when they were living in military housing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam last year that resulted in the boy suffering permanent brain damage.
Marcel Reno Highwalking pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court to assaulting his son by striking and shaking him, and has agreed to accept a 10-year prison term when Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi sentences him in February.
Kobayashi may sentence Highwalking to a longer prison term of up to life.
Highwalking is charged with committing the assaults from Aug. 13 to Oct. 26, 2011.
Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Butrick told Kobayashi that Highwalking was a stay-at-home father at the time, taking care of two kids, when he assaulted the boy.
Highwalking’s wife was a service member assigned to the base.
Butrick said Highwalking admitted striking and shaking his son when he was angry and frustrated.
He said doctors at Kapiolani Medical Center found the boy had fractures to his skull, right arm and a toe. He said they also found the boy suffered permanent brain damage, optical nerve damage and retinal damage to both eyes consistent with shaken baby syndrome, now called abusive trauma.
A grand jury returned an indictment against Highwalking in February.
Authorities arrested him in Arizona.
