Bartlesville man gets life sentence in toddler's death
BY LAURA SUMMERS World Correspondent
Friday, May 11, 2012
BARTLESVILLE – A former Washington County jailer was sentenced to a life behind bars Friday for his conviction in the 2010 death of a 3-year-old
Bartlesville boy.
Washington County District Judge Curtis DeLapp followed the jury’s
recommendation imposing a life imprisonment sentence for Joshua Robert Benton,
24, who was convicted in February of first-degree murder in the death of
Christian Norris.
The child’s mother, Shannon Hicks, told the court she has been
devastated by her son’s death.
“My family, my children and I have lived a nightmare,” Hicks said in a
statement to the court. “We have lived a life of horror and pain for months.”
The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office determined the toddler died of a
broken back and a kidney that quit functioning as a result of the
injury. Prosecutors maintain Benton broke the child’s back when he was
babysitting while Hicks was at the grocery store.
Benton has maintained his innocence and is appealing the conviction.
Read more on this story in tomorrow's Tulsa World.
Associated Images:
Joshua Robert Benton
|
