BEDFORD – On Friday, the jury heard from Scott Blattert’s second oldest daughter. In an explicit video, Blattert is seen smacking the child with a belt 27 times, slamming her face down into the couch cushion, telling her “You are a rebellious, wicked animal” and then slamming his elbow into the back of the child’s neck and strangling her.
The trial is on the third day of testimony in Lawrence County Superior Court I with Judge John Plummer III presiding.
Blattert, of Springville, is facing felony charges of aggravated battery when the assault possesses a substantial risk of death, strangulation, three counts of domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, and five counts of domestic battery with bodily injury on a person under the age of 14.
The oldest child was able to capture a small porting of the beating without her parent’s knowledge and turn that video over to investigators from the Department of Child Services and Indiana State Investigators after reporting the incident to the DCS hotline.
Defending Blattert are defense attorneys John Boren and Justin Boren, of Boren, Oliver & Coffey LLP in Bloomington.
Presenting the case for the state are Deputy Prosecutors Joshua Scherschel and Sarah Cummings.
The daughter who was 14 at the time of the beating in September 2019, testified that their punishments were getting more violent.
“We were scared,” she said. “Our Dad was getting more violent, more aggressive, and less predictable. He was hitting us with his hands both with open hands and his fists, glue sticks, and belt. It got worse after April 2019.
In April 2019, the two oldest daughters composed a letter and placed it in a mailbox of a DCS worker. The DCS investigated but found no wrongdoing.
“They had an idea about what we had done,” she added. “He (Blattert) became a lot more angry and violent over time.”
The girls were not only worried about themselves but their eight other siblings. Since the incident, a 10th and a 11th child was born. All 11 children are currently in foster care.
“He (a 13-year-old male child) would get punished for disobeying Mom. She couldn’t punish him enough, Dad was stronger than her and could hurt him more. The same day, on September 23, 2019, he was hit with the belt before me. He got it worse than I did.”
The female told the jury what lead up to the beating.
“We talked back to Mom and she got really mad. We were doing history and she started talking about God. I made a comment about we were supposed to be studying history and she didn’t like it. She told Dad. My brother got in trouble first. I was in my bedroom and then he (Blattert) called me out to the living room. He listed off a bunch of things that Mom had told him I had done. I don’t remember all of them. He told me to bend over and started hitting me with the belt. I tried to get away from him and he got on top of me and he pushed my face into the cushion and I couldn’t breathe. He then elbowed me in the back of the neck. He then had his hands around my neck and I struggled – somehow I got up.”
September 23, 2019, was a Monday, on that Sunday the family did not go to church.
“We didn’t go to church because I had marks on my neck, arms, and legs,” she added. “I wasn’t allowed to leave the house. We went to my grandparents in Ellettsville, but I had to wear clothing that would cover everything up. I didn’t tell them (the grandparents) what happened. I was scared they would not believe me and take my parent’s side.”
On cross-examination, the child testified her parents were extremely religious.
“We had prayer sessions several times a day,” she added. “We were to be Godly women and say yes sir and yes mam. We were to be modest and not wear makeup. We were not allowed to listen to any music but classical or religious. But we did, we listen to B97. We were not to talk back or question them. They would read the Bible to us every day and we had to tell our parents what we learned. Rules came from the Bible and a lot of the rules came from Vision Forum videos. The father is in charge and no one is to question the father, the child should be punished and those videos would go over how to punish the child with belts and other ways.”
Vision Forum was an evangelical Christian organization based in San Antonio, Texas. It was founded in 1998. Its president was Doug Phillips, son of U.S. Constitution Party leader Howard Phillips. Vision Forum Ministries was a 501(c) non-profit organization that was closed by its board of directors in November 2013 after Doug Phillips’ confession of marital infidelity and allegations of sexual abuse.
The associated commercial operation, called Vision Forum, Inc., continued to operate until January 2014, when it was announced that it too was shutting down operations.
Vision Forum advocated for Biblical patriarchy, creationism, homeschooling, family-integrated churches, and quiverful beliefs.
