DAYTON, Ohio – An Ohio man who claimed that a 2-year-old boy with head trauma had choked on a Pop-Tart has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in the boy's death.
Twenty-seven-year-old Dayton resident Justin Payne pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and evidence tampering. He originally had been charged with murder.
A message seeking comment was left for his public defender.
In a 911 call in August, Payne reported that his girlfriend's child had apparently choked on a toaster pastry while Payne was in the bathroom. The boy died, and a coroner's office determined he'd suffered blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso.
The Montgomery County prosecutor says Payne was charged in Jacob Barker's homicide after serving prison time for endangering a different child.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
