Steven Grant Williams listens to the judge in Lewis County Superior Court this morning as he is sentenced.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – A judge this morning sent a Chehalis man away for as long as he possibly could in a child abuse case the jury found involved deliberate cruelty to a 7-year-old boy.
“This case was shocking, the pictures of (the child) were shocking,” Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler said. “I’ve been involved in the court system a lot of years, and I’ll tell you, those pictures set me back.”
Steven Grant Williams, 40, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for second-degree assault of a child, to be followed by a year and a half of community custody.
The maximum penalty is 10 years with the state Department of Corrections. The standard range for the crime is about two and a half to three and a half years.
Williams, a National Guardsman who had moved to Chehalis with his girlfriend just months before he was arrested last summer, was convicted by a jury at the end of last month.
The boy lives with his paternal grandmother, and had spent two or three weeks weeks visiting his mother and Williams, the first time they’d had him since they moved back to Washington from southern California.
When he testified, Williams admitted he left a handprint-shaped bruise on the butt of his girlfriend’s 7-year-old, and switched to using a belt because he thought it wouldn’t leave marks.
He suggested some of the other bruises came from when he held the boy’s head under the shower, trying to teach him to wash his own hair. Williams said the child would thrash around and get so combative, sometimes he would simply let go, and the child would fall in the tub.
A social worker testified that when she saw him shortly after he was returned to his grandmother last summer, the youngster’s two black eyes were so swollen, he had to open his eyes wide just to see.
The mother worked at night, and the jury learned Williams would wait until after she left the house to give the child showers.
Williams had just recently returned from deployment in Kosovo, where he said part of his duties were as an interrogator.
He and the child’s mother told the jury the first-grader didn’t know his alphabet, didn’t know his numbers and didn’t know how to clean himself. Williams told the jury he tried to teach him those things during the visit.
Williams told the jury he didn’t think about giving the boy baths instead of showers.
Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes today asked the judge, who agreed, that Williams be ordered to get treatment for mental health and anger management.
Defense attorney Mike Underwood told Lawler before the sentence was decided, he thought two and half years in prison was appropriate for his client.
Williams was polite when he addressed the judge.
“Your honor, in light of everything I’m losing, I think eight years is excessive,” Williams said, noting his 19-year career in the military.
As he imposed the sentence, Lawler told Williams part of his reasoning was because of Williams lack of remorse.
‘Your comments bear out, this is still about you, and what you’ve lost, and not about what you did to (the child),” Lawler said. “That’s the problem here. That’s what you don’t seem to get.”
At the end of the hearing, Underwood filed a notice of appeal.
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Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
I remember visiting this no good son of a bitch. He got angry with me, very angry. My husband accused me of wanting him to get into a fight with him. the answer to that is no. I was a victim of crime not once but many times. Dyllan is now another victim who will suffer for the rest of his life. please please please, If you feel wrong about something LISTEN. I could have saved this poor child but I didn’t.