Man Sentenced in Videotaped Beatings of Girl

A baby-sitter’s husband caught on videotape beating a toddler left in his wife’s care was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison.

Richard Leonard, 30, of Orange was convicted in July of torturing and sexually assaulting the 14-month-old girl.

Leonard’s wife, Lisa, had been caring for the girl on May 16, 1997, in her home when she left to pick up the couple’s own daughter from school. A video camera she had set up taped what happened next.

Lisa Leonard had installed the camera to learn why she was seeing bruises on the child. She had thought it might show the child climbing out of her playpen and falling, according to testimony at the trial.

Instead, it captured her husband four times. The first time, he picked up the toddler, held her by the arm and punched her four times in the stomach. During other visits, he smacked the child’s head against the playpen, as the girl screamed.

When she returned home and reviewed the tape, Lisa Leonard took it and the child to a neighbor’s home, where she called police.

Prosecutor Michelle Clesceri said she had never seen such violence captured on videotape. And several jurors said after convicting Leonard that watching the tape was the most traumatic experience of the trial.

Defense attorney Jim Appel had argued that although Richard Leonard attacked the child, the abuse stemmed from severe depression and not maliciousness--a motive required to find him guilty of torture.

Appel also had disputed the sexual assault charge, saying the videotape did not show Leonard molesting the child. But a doctor testified that he found evidence of sexual abuse.