Today's execution candidate

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The parents of an Oregon toddler who they say was abused at the hands of a family friend/babysitter are now pushing for a change in state law that currently makes it difficult to prosecute child abuse. Joshua Marbury and Alicia Quinney recently learned the state would not be moving forward with criminal charges against the person they accused of injuring their 1-year-old son, Jacob.

"Oregon's current law on child abuse (2012) makes it very difficult to file charges that involve victims who are unable to speak. This includes infants and toddlers, but also the victims with disabilities causing them to be non-verbal," organizers wrote in an online petition to change the laws. So far, the petition has 43,806 signers.

Marbury and Quinney became acutely aware of the law's shortcomings when the Sherwood, Ore., couple came home from a night out in March to find Jacob covered in bruises, The Oregonian reported. The injuries looked even worse by the next day.

Marbury's longtime friend had been babysitting that night. Though he at first denied it, he eventually admitted hitting Jacob, according to the couple. But on Friday (May 21), an Oregon court told them there would be no criminal charges because, under a state Supreme Court ruling, the law requires the victim to show that he or she suffered "substantial pain" – something difficult for youngsters who aren't yet talking.

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