A man has received a life prison sentence for the death of his girlfriend’s 24-day-old child in Cherokee County, authorities said Friday.
Nicholas Charles Campbell, 28, pleaded guilty to felony murder, cruelty to children and possession of methamphetamine in a negotiated deal, District Attorney Shannon Wallace said. A trial on multiple charges was scheduled for April.
Ciara Campbell’s manner of death in December 2015 was homicide and the cause of death was craniocerebral trauma, a sheriff’s official said at the time. Nicholas Campbell was not the girl’s biological father.
Campbell will be eligible for parole in 30 years as part of his sentence.
Campbell said during his guilty plea that he had used methamphetamine before arriving home that night (and he tested positive for meth at the police station the morning after the child was injured), Wallace said.
Campbell told the court he became frustrated because the baby would not stop crying while her mother was outside talking to a friend, according to Wallace.
“Campbell indicated that he grabbed Ciara, violently shook her, and then threw her face down into her crib. He then grabbed her again and threw her onto a boppy pillow that was on a twin bed,” Wallace said.
“Campbell told the court that the child may have hit a table that was close to her crib when he threw her and stated this impact may have been the cause of the infant’s broken collar bone and fractured orbital plate. According to the defendant, the child started to ‘breathe funny’ after he shook her and then the child’s mother came back into the apartment.
“Alyssa Kincaid (the mother) immediately called for the defendant’s mom and then 911 was called.”
The baby was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where she died.
Kincaid negotiated a guilty plea in November and agreed to a seven-year prison term, according to a report. She pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree cruelty to children and possession of meth.
Kincaid also had agreed to testify as a prosecution witness at Campbell’s trial.
MORE: Atlanta crime news
In other news:
About the Author
