Man sentenced to 10 years in baby’s death
A Madison County man was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for causing the death of his then-girlfriend’s 10-week-old son at a Northwest Side apartment.
Brandon E. Adkins, 31, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Common Pleas Court to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Dustin Nguyen.
Adkins was alone with the baby on Nov. 18, 2014, when he contacted a neighbor in the apartment complex on Antigua Drive and asked to borrow a cellphone to contact the child’s mother, Assistant Prosecutor Nadia Haque said.
Adkins returned to the apartment minutes later, she said, carrying an unresponsive baby and asking the neighbor to call 911. While police and medics were on the way, Adkins left the scene.
The child died at Riverside Methodist Hospital. An autopsy determined that brain injuries were the cause, Haque said, and would have occurred within minutes of the child losing consciousness.
Adkins, formerly of London Road in West Jefferson, made a brief statement in court, saying he has “suffered from terrible drugs addictions” and that he “loved and cared about Dustin a lot.”
None of the baby’s relatives, including the mother, who has been difficult to reach, attended the hearing, Haque said.
Judge Mark Serrott imposed the sentence, which was recommended by Haque and defense attorney Jo Kaiser as part of Adkins’ plea deal.