"The next thing that I knew, Adam was back asleep snoring"

The night Kearns struck his wife, their 5-year-old ran into his parents’ bedroom screaming with night terrors. His mother woke up, and the next thing she knew her husband began to beat her with his fist, according to her account in her frantic 911 call.

Doctors say Kearns may have had a “primal reaction” to his son’s scream and lashed out, according to Kearns.