North Texas dad on trial for branding son with pentagram
FORT WORTH, Texas - The man charged with carving a satanic symbol on his own son goes on trial this week in Fort Worth.
Police say Brent Bartel called 911 in Richland Hills three years ago. He told operators he had used a box cutter to carve a pentagram on his 6-year-old son’s back.
“I shed some innocent blood,” he told the dispatcher. "I inscribed a pentagram on my son."
When asked why, Bartel told the dispatcher, "It's a holy day."
The boy survived and was treated at a local hospital.
Bartel has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was found too incompetent for trial several times. But, last year a judge ruled that he was healthy enough to stand trail for the aggravated assault of a family member with a deadly weapon.
The jury selection began Tuesday.