Boise man sentenced for abusing infant

BOISE – A father will serve at least 10 years in prison for systematically beating his infant son.

James Robert Chapman, 22, pleaded guilty in June to three counts of aggravated battery. Prosecutors said Chapman was a methamphetamine user who broke his son’s pelvis, arm and ankles while the child’s mother was at work.

At his sentencing Monday, Chapman wept as he apologized for the abuse.

“I’m sorry for hurting my son,” he said. “Day in and day out it eats at me, the pain I put my son through. I’m a bad person. I need to pay the price for my childish, selfish acts.”

But 4th District Judge Cheri Copsey, who sentenced Chapman to between 10 and 30 years, said Chapman seemed to use his drug use as an excuse.