The father of an 8 1/2-month-old girl who was hospitalized in February with a skull fracture and other broken bones in various stages of healing, pleaded guilty Wednesday to the felony charge of malicious punishment of a child.

Anthony Goodall Jr., 21, will be sentenced April 20 by Ramsey County District Judge Joanne Smith.

According to the criminal complaint, the baby's mother brought the girl to St. Paul Children's Hospital on Feb. 11 after she noticed swelling and a "squishy" feeling on the baby's head while feeding her. The mother told police she had left the child with Goodall when she went to work Feb. 8.

Doctors later found the girl had healing fractures in her collarbone and in both legs. Goodall admitted he threw the baby onto a bed "with such force that she struck the bedroom wall with her head," the complaint said.

The baby's prognosis was not clear.

PAT PHEIFER