AUBURN – A former Lisbon man convicted of assaulting his adopted 21-month-old son two days before the toddler died wants to drop the rest of his probation.

Jeremy Allen, 33, is scheduled to appear in Androscoggin County Superior Court next month on the motion.

He was sentenced in 2005 to six months in jail plus two years’ probation on an assault charge. He has served his jail time and more than a year of his probation.

Allen and his wife, Sarah, were charged and convicted after their adopted Guatemalan son, Nathaniel, died from what prosecutors said was trauma from being shaken.

Sarah Allen was convicted of manslaughter after her first trial ended with a hung jury. She is serving a 3-year prison term at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham. Police said she shook the baby with enough force to cause a brain injury.

Two days before the baby died in February 2003, Jeremy Allen admitted spanking his son with a wooden spoon on the baby’s bare buttocks. He said he punished the child because the boy refused to pick up his toys.

After spanking him, Allen went on a business meeting in New Hampshire, leaving Nathaniel alone with Sarah Allen. When he was rushed to the hospital, an emergency room nurse discovered bruises on the boy’s buttocks and upper thigh.

Jeremy Allen said he was simply disciplining his son according to Christian books on the subject. Corporal punishment is legal in Maine as long as pain is “transient.”

“I wasn’t trying to hurt him,” Allen said in court. “I was just trying to redirect his attention.”

The Allens maintained Nathaniel died because he suffered from a pre-existing seizure disorder.

Allen’s motion to terminate probation was continued to Nov. 7 from a September court date.