A 35-year-old Westminster man received a five-year prison sentence yesterday after admitting that he choked and hit the mother of his baby as she was preparing to move out of their home in September.

Kenneth E. Kern of the 600 block of Washington Road pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. Carroll Circuit Judge Raymond E. Beck Sr. suspended half of a 10-year prison term and agreed to allow Kern to surrender April 6 to begin serving the sentence.

Beck also ordered five years of supervised probation and told Kern to have no contact with Shelly Lea Shriver, 23, other than arranged visits with their year-old son.

Kern and Shriver had been living together for about six weeks when Shriver said she planned to move out Sept. 12, said Assistant State's Attorney Theresa M. Adams, outlining the prosecution's case.

The assault began about 11 p.m. Sept. 9 as Shriver was asleep, Adams said. Kern returned from playing pool and found on a caller-identification box the number of a friend who was helping her to move, which prompted accusations that Shriver was having an affair.

Kern slapped her, grabbed her head and banged it into the wall of their baby's room, then choked her, screaming, "I'm going to kill you" and telling Shriver to "take a good look at the baby now, because in the morning you'll be dead," said Adams, who presented photographs of the injuries and said Shriver twice lost consciousness.

About 1 a.m. Sept. 10, the county emergency operator received a cellular phone call from a woman screaming that someone was trying to kill her, Adams said. State police were able to trace it to the Washington Road address.

Kern, who had disabled the telephones, met police at the door holding his baby boy, Adams said. Kern said he and his girlfriend had hit and scratched each other and that he had slapped and "restrained" her.

Before their arrival, Kern ordered Shriver to clean up and to say they had assaulted each other, warning that if he was arrested, he would kill her when he got out, Adams said.

"I'll just remain silent," Kern told Beck when his turn came to speak before sentencing.

Kern has prior convictions for offenses such as theft, writing bad checks and forgery, Adams said. As part of the guilty plea, a first-degree assault charge was dropped.

Kern is appealing a conviction in District Court in an assault case involving another woman, Adams said. That case has been set for trial May 5 in Circuit Court.

Pub Date: 3/30/99