Thursday's Internet Edition, September 02, 2010.

Jurors deliberated less than half an hour Thursday before finding Jonathan Tranberg, 25, of Weston guilty of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.

Tranberg was living in Spencer in January 2008 when he allegedly threw his 9-month-old son across the room, fracturing the infant’s skull.

He was visiting at a friend’s apartment, and his wife and the friend’s girlfriend were in Ripley when the incident happened.

Tranberg first told police the child rolled off the couch. He later admitted to hitting the child with his fist and picking him up by his clothing and throwing him into a wall.

Lt. Jeff Smith of the Roane Sheriff’s Dept. played a tape recording of the confession for the jury.

Tranberg’s lawyer said his client confessed so the child’s mother could regain custody of their son, who had been removed from the home after the incident.

“The state had taken their baby,” defense attorney Lee Benford said in his opening remarks. “He had decided the only way to stop that from happening… was to confess to something he didn’t do.”

Benford also called a witness, Abby Batten, who said she heard Tranberg fall down the steps with the child that night when he left the apartment on Church Street where Batten and Mitchell Lentz lived.

Wirt County prosecutor Leslie Maze, appointed to the case because Roane prosecutor Josh Downey represented Tranberg before he became prosecutor, called a witness who said the defense claims didn’t add up.

State medical examiner Dr. James Kaplan said the injuries the child suffered could not have resulted from falling off the couch or down the steps.

The trial began last Tuesday, and was delayed Wednesday after Tranberg reportedly suffered from a seizure during a break in the trial.

Over a three-day period, the seven-man, five-woman jury heard more than a dozen witnesses.

Once both sides finished, jurors spent less than 30 minutes in the jury room before returning to announce their verdict.

Tranberg spent eight months in jail following his arrest, before he was released on bond in October 2008.

Roane Circuit Judge Tom Evans sent Tranberg back to jail to await sentencing, which will take place after a probation officer completes a pre-sentence investigation.