Ronny Rathman, 52, made his first appearance in Buchanan County circuit court, via video conference from the county jail, on Friday.

Mr. Rathman was arrested Oct. 8 and charged with second-degree murder after his 7-week-old son, Donald, died that evening. According to court documents, the victim’s father allegedly struck the infant’s head multiple times and knocked it into a table.

Police arrested Donald’s mother, Angela Rathman, 36, on Sept. 9 and charged her with felony child abuse. According to court documents, Ms. Rathman squeezed her baby, causing bruising around his rib cage, under his arms and on his legs.

Associate Judge Keith Marquart did not lower Mr. Rathman’s $100,000 bond, finding it appropriate in the case after Ron Holliday, the first assistant prosecuting attorney, said the defendant had a history of assault, child abuse and fighting.

“We believe it’s a reasonable amount, based on the seriousness of the charge,” Mr. Holliday told the court.

According to records, Judge Randall Jackson approved a protection order against Mr. Rathman for adult abuse/stalking in 2006.

Mr. Rathman told Judge Marquart on Friday that he would apply for a public defender. The defendant also revealed that he was unemployed at the time of the alleged crime and was receiving disability benefits. His education stopped at the 11th grade, he said.

The judge scheduled Mr. Rathman’s preliminary hearing for Nov. 16. Ms. Rathman’s preliminary hearing is Nov. 3 in front of Judge Ron Taylor.

On Friday, the Missouri Department of Social Services responded to the News-Press’ open records request for its investigations into the Rathman family in 2008 and again this year. According to Donald’s aunt, Children’s Services investigated the Rathmans twice in 2008.

DSS estimated it will take two to four weeks to “determine if the information requested exists, for (it) to be located and for (it) to be reviewed for access in accordance with the requirements of the Missouri Sunshine Law.”

R.J. Cooper can be reached

at rjcooper@npgco.com.

It was reported in Saturday’s B1 story “Rathman makes first court appearance in murder case” that according to records, Judge Randall Jackson approved a protection order against Ronny Rathman for adult abuse/stalking in 2006, due to a reporter’s error. The order was against Ronny Rathman Jr., born in 1986, not the Ronny Rathman born in 1957, who is charged with second-degree murder.