LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for injuring his 18-month-old stepdaughter, who authorities say suffered bite marks and bone fractures.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that court documents filed Thursday show 22-year-old Keanu Brown pleaded no contest to first-degree battery of a child in exchange for the 10-year sentence.
Brown, who is from Little Rock, had denied hurting the girl, telling investigators the toddler was hurt by a 3-year-old boy who had pulled the girl down a flight of stairs in November 2018.
But a pediatrician at Arkansas Children’s Hospital said the bite marks were too large to be a child’s and she told police bone fractures the child suffered are typically caused by “forceful trauma” from say a car crash or from a strong punch by a fist.
