Former airman gets 10 to 25 years for infant son’s death

A former Nellis Air Force Base staff sergeant needs mental health treatment that he may not receive in prison, his lawyer said Tuesday, as a judge sentenced him to 10 to 25 years in prison for killing his 3-month-old son.

Andrew Leach suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after three consecutive deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Deputy Public Defender Amy Feliciano.

The 32-year-old man, who served with the 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree murder and one count of child abuse, neglect or endangerment with substantial bodily harm for injuries his son Aiden suffered on Feb. 1, 2014.

Feliciano, who said she works often with military veterans, cried throughout the hour-long sentencing hearing.

“The Andrew that you see before you today is so much more healed than the Andrew I first met,” Feliciano told District Judge Carolyn Ellsworth. She called Leach “one of the most scared people I have ever encountered in representing thousands of clients. … This was not an intentional case of child abuse that we normally see.”

Throughout his service, Leach did not receive proper treatment for his disorder, Feliciano said. She said he witnessed fellow soldiers burned alive, and he drove over four insurgents who tried to attack a U.S. convoy in Iraq.

After a few months of group support, he was deployed to Afghanistan, and “saw the same types of things,” the lawyer said.

“His PTSD got worse and worse and worse,” Feliciano said. “And he got no support.” She said soldiers who return from war in the Middle East are often “unable to tell who is friendly and who is not.”

In flashbacks, he still can hear the gunfire and the screams, and smell the burning flesh, the defense lawyer said. In recurring nightmares, he feels his hands on the steering wheel as the insurgents were killed.

“I don’t think any of us have any idea of what’s gone on,” Feliciano said. “Regardless of all that, he would go back and do another tour in a heartbeat if it meant that Aiden could still be here.”

Officials at the Air Force base would not release any records on Leach, according to spokesman Master Sgt. Sanjay Allen.

Through tears, Leach, whose once-cropped red hair had grown past his shoulders, apologized for his son’s death. He said he hoped his case could help others who suffer from traumatic stress.

“I have the opportunity to be that guy,” he said, choking up as news reporters covered the hearing. “Hopefully, somebody will see me through this camera, and they’ll not be in my shoes.”

Aiden’s mother and Leach’s former wife, Kelly Forsythe, said she forgives her ex-husband for a “split-second lack of judgment,” though she has not spoken to him since she rushed to the hospital to attend to their son.

“His job and the uniform became symbols of nightmares and horrors that he survived,” Forsythe said. “He tried so hard to get the help and get better. … I do believe, with help, he will be able to function in society one day. And that is my hope and my prayer for him.”

The judge asked Leach whether he remembered what happened to his son.

“No,” he said.

“When does your memory start?” Ellsworth asked.

“Holding him. And he’s not breathing.”

Aiden died at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center on Feb. 17, 2014.

During an interview with Las Vegas police, Leach said he dropped his son on a tile floor while testing the water for a bath he was preparing for the boy.

But the coroner’s office determined the boy died from “abusive head trauma” after having been shaken.

Forsythe testified before a grand jury that Aiden was happy and curled up in Leach’s arms when she left their home on the day the boy was injured.

She later called Leach to tell him she was headed to a commissary for groceries.

“You need to get to the hospital,” he told her. “It’s Aiden. There’s been an accident.”

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker