PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: June 13, 2007

Contact: William J. Smith (718) 556-7150
William.Smith@rcda.nyc.gov

D.A. Donovan: S.I. Man Receives 20 Years in Prison for Scalding of Girlfriend’s 3 Year-Old Son
*** Michael Duhs, 34, Sentenced Following February Conviction on Assault Charges***

STATEN ISLAND, NY - Richmond County District Attorney Daniel M. Donovan, Jr. today announced that State Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Rooney has sentenced a Staten Island man to 20 years in prison for his February 2007 conviction at trial on charges of Assault in the 1st Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

     Justice Rooney sentenced Michael Duhs, 34, of Seaview Avenue, for his role in a September 16, 2005 incident in which he placed the three year-old son of his live-in girlfriend into scalding water in a bath-tub in their home. The defendant, who has a 1991 felony conviction for burglary, did not seek medical treatment for the child until the boy’s mother returned home six hours later. Following treatment at Staten Island University Hospital, the child was determined to have third degree burns to over 10% of his body, including his lower legs and the soles of his feet.

     District Attorney Donovan stated, “This was an unconscionable act, immersing an innocent child into scalding hot water, with no regard for the permanent physical and psychological damage he was causing. Michael Duhs deserves to serve every day of the lengthy prison sentence imposed today.”

     The case against Duhs was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Wanda DeOliveira, Deputy Chief of the Sex Crimes/Special Victims Bureau, and Assistant District Attorney Lauren-Brooke Eisen, working under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Yolanda L. Rudich, Bureau Chief. The defendant is represented by Michael Harding, Esq.

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