25-year-old dad who shook baby causing her death sentenced to 23 years
FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — A rural Franklin man was sentenced Thursday to 23 years in prison after pleading guilty to shaking his baby daughter to death, authorities said.
Jamison Hendley, 25, on Sept. 30, 2015, shook his 2-month-old daughter, Braelyn, and threw her across a room where she struck a chair and then fell to a wood floor. The incident occurred at the family’s rural Franklin home in the 5700 block of South U.S. 31, about 2 miles north of Edinburgh. Hendley did not call authorities for help and also lied to his girlfriend, the 2-month-old’s mother, about the injuries, investigators with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office determined. Hendley was charged about a week later with battery causing death, to which he pleaded guilty.
A doctor at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health told police that the baby had nonaccidental trauma including bruises, constant seizures, significant brain injury and bleeding from the eyes. An autopsy from the Marion County Coroner’s Office found the baby died of blunt force trauma to the brain.
Prosecutor Brad Cooper argued for a maximum sentence of 30 years because “Hendley was in the ultimate position of trust and he betrayed that trust by shaking and throwing Brealyn, causing her death by blunt force trauma to the brain.”
Johnson Superior Court 2 Judge Peter Nugent sentenced Hendley to 23 years in prison followed by two years on probation.
