A Virginia man was found guilty of killing his two-month-old baby while playing Xbox and now knows what will happen to him. The Commonwe...
A Virginia man was found guilty of killing his two-month-old baby while playing Xbox and now knows what will happen to him.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for the city of Virginia Beach said that La'Shaun Quintae Holloway, 27, of Virginia Beach, was given a 50-year prison term on October 6 with 20 years suspended. This means that he will only have to serve 30 years of his sentence. In August, Holloway was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse in connection with the death of his baby girl, whose name has not been made public.
On December 20, 2019, Holloway was taking care of the baby when family members "heard him yelling obscenities over an Xbox headset," the Commonwealth's Attorney said in a statement.
The Commonwealth's Attorney said in a statement, "Family members heard him swearing at the baby over an Xbox headset."
After the baby stopped crying, it was soon found that it wasn't responding. She was taken to a nearby hospital right away and put on life support. The Commonwealth's Attorney says she died a few days later after being seriously hurt. She had 26 broken ribs that were still healing, bruises on her chest wall, a broken collarbone, a skull fracture, bruises on her skull around her eyes, and a large brain bleed.
Medical experts say that the injuries were caused by violent head trauma. Holloway was convicted of child abuse and neglect in Chesapeake before. This was because of an event in which he was also found guilty of felony eluding police, felony hit and run, and DUI.
Holloway got a longer term than what the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines said was the maximum. The guidelines said Holloway should get 23 years and 8 months in prison.
"The Commonwealth used the baby's age, serious injuries, and the brutality of the murder to argue for this high sentence," the statement said. "Judge [Afshin] Farashahi agreed that those reasons were enough to get a harsher sentence than what was allowed."