A Marietta man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday after a jury convicted him of severely injuring his infant daughter by shaking her.
Matthew Len Nutt, 27, was convicted by a jury Tuesday of one count of cruelty to children in the first degree and three misdemeanor counts of simple battery for inflicting blunt force to the child’s head on July 3, 2011, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said.
Nutt claimed that the girl dropped from his arm while he was vacuuming and hit her head, and that he shook her “just a little” to wake her up, Reynolds said. Later he admitted to shaking her because her crying was “like nails on a chalkboard,” Reynolds said.
“This was no accident,” said Lindsay Gardner, the courtroom prosecutor. “This case is about the defendant’s frustration and anger with a 3-month-old child. He showed his true colors when he admitted that her cries sounded like nails on a chalkboard.”
The girl still has trouble walking and cannot talk, Reynolds said.
Superior Court Senior Judge James G. Bodiford sentenced Nutt to serve 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty for first degree child cruelty.
