Man receives sentence in child endangerment case

A Jackson father was sentenced Monday to probation and 30 days in county jail for leaving his 3-year-old daughter alone in an apartment with his wife's corpse and a kitchen littered with anti-psychotic pills.

James E. Bratina, 30, found his dead wife face down on a baby mattress on the floor next to their bed on Jan. 15, 2001. Instead of immediately seeking help, he left his daughter and went to work, returning nearly four hours later to call 911.

Circuit Judge William Syler said it was "ironic" how the misdemeanor of endangering a child was more serious than the felony Bratina committed. Syler compared leaving the girl alone with the drugs to leaving her in a hot car for four hours.

For the felony of abandoning a corpse, Syler placed Bratina on five years probation. For endangering a child, he sentenced Bratina to a year in jail, but suspended the sentence and added an additional two years probation, to run concurrent with the first period.

Syler added the 30 days jail time as a special condition of probation. Bratina must report to the jail by Friday at 5 p.m. The court will consider his request for work release.

Bratina's wife, 24-year-old Suyapa "Sushila" Bratina, died from prescription drug and alcohol intoxication. Her body's stiffening and settling of blood showed she had been dead for many hours before paramedics arrived.

The case affirmed Missouri law. Bratina was charged Aug. 29, 2001, but he nearly avoided the felony two months later, when Associate Circuit Judge Gary A. Kamp dismissed it, saying the 1995 statute concerning it was unconstitutionally vague.

However, prosecutors appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, and the justices unanimously overruled Kamp, saying the statute in question was clear in meaning.

mwells@semissourian.com

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