Trial begins for custodial dad, step charged with locking 12-year-old daughter in basement for weeks (Hamilton, Ohio)

We've reported on this case before. STILL not one word on how dad SHAWN BLACKSTON got custody or what happened to this girl's mother. It's like there is an official media blackout on how these sicko fathers got custody to start with.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/0a27f11d7a4e4f8fa11f9eb6f2d69f51/OH--Girl-in-Basement

Trial begins for Ohio couple suspected of locking 12-year-old daughter in basement for weeks

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS November 13, 2012 - 11:38 am EST

HAMILTON, Ohio — A father and stepmother suspected of locking a 12-year-old girl in a basement for weeks have gone on trial in southwest Ohio.

The bench trial for 40-year-old Shawn Blackston and 37-year-old Joanna Blackston of Middletown began Tuesday in Butler County Juvenile Court in Hamilton. A court official says they are each charged with child endangering and could get up to six months in jail if the judge finds them guilty.

They were arrested in July after authorities said they found the girl in the family's basement, apparently dirty and underweight.

Authorities said she allegedly was confined as punishment for weeks this summer with a dirty mattress to sleep on. She's in foster care, as are five other children who lived with the couple. Their ages range from 2 to 15.