Font ResizeA 19-year-old Taylorsville man -- who was 17 when he fatally shook his 1-month-old daughter -- was sentenced Thursday to prison for up to life.
Cleotis Shipman was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder for shaking Qiana Shipman on Nov. 19, 2007. The infant died two days later of severe brain damage.
The murder charge carries a mandatory 15-years-to-life prison term. But Shipman pleaded guilty in June to a lesser count of first-degree felony child-abuse homicide, which is punishable by five years to life in prison.
On Thursday, 3rd District Judge Robin Reese rejected pleas for jail time and probation and imposed the prison term, saying, "It's clear to me that something violent and traumatic happened to this child."
Despite Shipman's admission to police that he shook the child, defense attorney Catherine Lilly had claimed it was unclear the shaking caused the death of the child, who was thin and had not "thrived" since her birth.
But prosecutor Angela Micklos called the shaking "a criminal act" that was followed by repeated lies to police. She said Shipman gave police six different accounts of how the child was injured before admitting he had shaken her for about 30 seconds.
Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors would have alleged Shipman had sexually abused the child, which caused her to cry inconsolably, which prompted the shaking episode, Micklos said.
Said Shipman: "This experience
As for his punishment, Shipman said he would "just take it like a man. For the future, I'll learn from my mistakes."
