CRESTVIEW — A psychologist labeled him “avoidant dependent” and his attorney called him “a victim of a disastrous relationship” who had lost everything.
Okaloosa County Circuit Judge Michael Flowers told Grant Sherwin on Wednesday he was a selfish man whose disregard for the well-being of his 2-year-old son Logan helped bring about the child’s death.
Flowers pronounced Sherwin guilty of one count of cruelty toward a child and 10 counts of child neglect, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison, the maximum state law allows.
“I respectfully disagree with Mr. (Scott) Miller’s assessment that you have lost everything. You’re standing here. Logan has lost everything,” Flowers said. “He might be here if you had listened to your mother or cared a little more for your children and a little less about yourself. Failure to care for your children is not weakness but selfishness.”
Flowers’ ruling closed an emotionally wrenching hearing that lasted more than two hours. It clearly painted Sherwin’s fiancée, Nicole Allen, as the perpetrator of the most egregious of many abuses inflicted upon Logan and his 3-year-old sister, Olivia.
Allen, 28, faces 65 years in prison when she is sentenced July 8 to one count of principal to third-degree murder and 10 counts of child neglect. She pleaded no contest to the charges May 17, and prosecutor Bobby Elmore has said he will seek the maximum sentence.
Elmore made sure the court was aware Wednesday that on the day of his death Dec. 29, 2011, Logan’s his entire body — from the top of his head to the soles of his feet — was covered in bruises, some fresh and others days or possibly weeks old. The child ultimately died from a skull fracture Sherwin and Allen attributed to a fall from the toilet.
When he cross-examined the 29-year-old Sherwin, Elmore focused mostly on the neglect inflicted on Logan and Olivia, including their being left alone at home, locked in separate bedrooms, on Christmas Day while Sherwin and Allen spent the holiday with friends.
A remorseful Sherwin, a supply sergeant with the Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) when Logan died, acknowledged leaving his children home on several occasions.
He conceded Logan was left home on Christmas because Allen thought bruises on the boy’s forehead might give people “the wrong impression.”
“I was overlooking things that were in front of me and not seeing things that were in front of me,” Sherwin testified.
Sherwin’s mother, Susan Sherwin, testified that she and her husband had endured heartbreak before when Logan and Olivia were left at their doorstep as malnourished and sickly infants by another of her son’s choices in women.
“Many nights I fell asleep crying, concerned about my babies,” Susan Sherwin said.
She called Sherwin a man “who always dreamed of being a family man” and testified that Allen had forced her son and grandchildren away from their grandparents.
After the sentencing, Susan Sherwin and her husband actually thanked Elmore.
Miller, the defense attorney, said his client received the sentence everyone expected.
“We figured there was a very good chance Grant would get the 20 years,” Miller said. “I told him yesterday anything less and we’ll call it a win.”
Psychologist Dr. Elaine Bailey testified that Sherwin’s “avoidant dependent” personality made him passive and easy to manipulate. She diagnosed him as “the proverbial stick your head in the sand and go along” type person.
A personality trait offers no excuse for allowing a child to be brutally abused, Elmore said after the hearing.
“There’s no question he made two very poor choices of women as the mother and caretaker of his children,” Elmore said. “I don’t buy it was something he couldn’t help. He was an intelligent individual. He could have made another choice.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.