A man who caused the death of his girlfriend's 8-month-old daughter by giving her a sedative to make her sleep was sentenced Friday to prison for up to 15 years.
Gene Rick Richins, 32, of Sandy, was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony child abuse homicide for the August 2013 death of the infant.
Richins in December pleaded guilty to a lesser second-degree felony count of child abuse homicide.
Judge Vernice Trease ordered him to prison' in part based on a pre-sentence report prepared by Adult Probation & Parole, despite prosecutors having promised not to recommend prison in exchange for Richins' plea.
Richins said in a document supporting his guilty plea that was caring for his girlfriend's infant daughter, identified as K.S., as well as his own infant daughter on the night of Aug. 8, 2013.
At about 11:30 p.m., K.S. was crying and was not consoled by a bottle, so Richins gave her a small portion of a Trazodone pill, along with some Infants' Tylenol, in a syringe, according to the document.
Richins knew the Trazodone was prescription sedative, and knew it could have posed a risk to K.S., according to the document.
The infant's mother awoke the morning the child had died, according to court documents.
K.S. initially was found to have died from positional asphyxia while she was lying face-down in the playpen. But after lab work was conducted, medical examiners determined that she could not shift her position because she was intoxicated on the Trazodone, according to court documents.
