Jury acquits man of child abuse

The jury box at the Mason County Courthouse

By Allison Scarbrough, News Editor

LUDINGTON — A jury acquitted a 31-year-old man of a third-degree child abuse charge in Mason County’s 51st Circuit Court Friday, Oct. 25.

DeRooy

It took the jury two hours of deliberations to render its verdict following a three-day trial for Cody Michael DeRooy, said his attorney Andrew LaPres.

He was arraigned on the felony child abuse count a year ago.

“It was a case in which he and the child’s mother lived apart, and he had parenting time with the child. When he returned the child to the mom as scheduled — she got the child back on Sunday, and then on Thursday, the kid goes to a counselor and tells the counselor that the dad hit him and said he had a bruise on his leg. The mom never said anything about it for four or five days. Everything was normal for several days. He didn’t hear anything about it until the following Friday.” DeRooy maintained his innocence.

The jury received instructions for a lesser charge of misdemeanor child abuse, and DeRooy was also found not guilty of that count, said LaPres.

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