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But his son "will never be able to walk away from this situation," a Lancaster County judge said.
In fact, the child — who Brandon Scott Brooks admitted assaulting in a fit of rage — might never walk at all.
The baby was 1 month old when Brooks threw him 3 feet and into a wooden headboard, fracturing the infant's skull and breaking his leg and ribs, police said.
Brooks, 19, of South Eighth Street, pleaded guilty earlier to aggravated assault and child endangerment.
On Friday, Lancaster County Court Judge James P. Cullen sentenced Brooks to 3 to 8 years in state prison followed by 5 years' probation.
"You have inflicted lifelong injuries on your son," Cullen said. "At some point, you will walk away from this. … That child will never be able to walk away from this situation."
To lose control and hurt a child, Cullen continued, "is intolerable in any society."
The baby's parents were students at Columbia High School when the child was born.
After the incident on Feb. 28, 2008, Assistant District Attorney Karen Mansfield said, Brooks kept silent "knowing full well what he had done" instead of seeking immediate help for his son.
The next day, the baby's mother, Ashley Melbert, took the child to a doctor.
The doctor immediately ordered that the infant be flown to Hershey Medical Center, and the doctor also contacted police, who arrested Brooks.
Brooks — free on bail — returned to school and went on with his life while the child's mother and grandmother cared for the injured baby, Mansfield said.
In fact, Mansfield added, Brooks "even had the nerve" to ask the court for permission to go with his classmates on a senior trip to Ocean City, Md.
Permission, she noted, was denied.
"That child in no way is going to live a normal life, and that is because of the defendant," Mansfield said.
The boy, with a toothless grin and wispy blond hair, was carried into the courtroom as his mother and grandmother told Cullen that the child might never walk or talk because of his brain injuries.
His skull could not be completely repaired, Melbert told the judge, leaving her son vulnerable to further brain damage.
Melbert said her son, born a "healthy, normal baby boy," cannot walk, talk, sleep, eat solid food or drink at the same level as other toddlers.
"It will be a lifelong struggle for him as well as me," Melbert said.
As for Brooks, Melbert said, he "has another child on the way to another young girl."
Defense attorney Mark Walmer said that Brooks has been working since he graduated from high school, completing vocational training and parenting classes.
Brooks' mother and stepfather, Melissa and Ron Stauffer, told the judge how well the defendant plays with his nieces and nephews, and they described him as a devoted and enthusiastic father to his infant son.
"This was a horrible accident," Melissa Stauffer told the judge, "and one that my son will regret for the rest of his life."
Brooks, who stared straight ahead during the proceeding as witnesses came forward to talk to the judge, told Cullen he hoped to continue working to support his son.
"I'm sorry … I lost control," Brooks told the judge.
Cullen said he couldn't decide if it was "lack of maturity or simply disinterestedness. … It's hard to tell.
"Obviously, you did not recognize the seriousness of your responsibility."
Fatherhood, Cullen continued, isn't about playing well with children, "it's a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week responsibility to care for and protect that child."
Cullen ordered Brooks to take anger and parenting classes and pay $114,738 restitution.
