Denver Post, April 10, 1999

Enyart handed jail term in stepson's beating
By Kieran Nicholson, Denver Post Staff Writer

April 10 - Denver Christian radio talk-show host Bob Enyart was handcuffed in a Jefferson County courtroom Friday and led to jail to begin serving a 60-day sentence for beating his stepson with a belt.

Enyart was convicted in 1995 of misdemeanor child abuse resulting in injury for inflicting bruises, welts and broken skin on the buttocks of his stepson, Stephen, who was 7 at the time. The misdemeanor case took two trials in Jefferson County and almost five years to play out.

"It's been a very long process, it's been very hard on Stephen,'' said John Mayns, the boy's father and custodial parent. Through the lengthy process, Enyart claimed that he did nothing wrong, saying in 1997 that "taking a boy to the woodshed'' was once "politically correct.'' Enyart did not address the court Friday. But Mayns said the discipline was more than a mere spanking.

"He did not spank him, he beat him,'' Mayns said. The beating with a belt, for which Enyart was sentenced to jail, happened in the boy's mother's Arvada home. Enyart disciplined Stephen, at the behest of the boy's mother, Cheryl, for refusing to take a shower. The couple was dating at the time, but was not yet married. He was also accused of beating his stepson another time on a camping trip in El Paso County but was later acquitted.

Cheryl Enyart declined comment as she left the courthouse Friday. Mayns said his son is now just starting to recover from the incident. Stephen and his older brother, Anthony, 17, both see their mother but Enyart has been ordered by the court to stay away from the boys. Enyart, wearing a black T-shirt that said "Judge Rightly is not some guy's name,'' was at ease in the courtroom prior to starting his jail term. He held his toddler daughter in his lap. Enyart was fined $1,498, which he must pay within 30 days of finishing the jail term. He is on one-year probation and must also complete a parenting class and a mental health evaluation as part of the sentence.