:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(750x344:752x346)/Anthony-Trice-DeAnthony-Trice-122324-f0af24dc8bdf461e8f16df1756f5e3ad.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Father hit and killed son because he was angry he lost in a video game")
A Kentucky man accused of killing his 1-month-old son by hitting the child out of frustration over losing in a video game was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter, according to multiple reports, including the Louisville Courier Magazine And WDRB.
In May 2019, Anthony Trice, 32, of Louisville, was home alone with his young son. When he started losing in a video game, he threw the controller and hit the child with his fist, according to an arrest warrant. Courier diary reported.
The father then picked up his son in an attempt to calm him down, but dropped him as he walked to the kitchen to prepare a bottle. Trice put his son in a sitting position and stepped away to go to the bathroom, police said, but he returned to find the child “in distress,” the citation said.
At that point, Trice called 911, according to the citation.
The day after the incident, Trice was arrested on charges of criminal abuse of a child in the first degree. But by a GoFundMe In a page from the child’s grandparent, the baby died while receiving care at a local hospital. Trice’s charges were later upgraded to murder, to which Trice initially pleaded not guilty.
But he later pleaded guilty to manslaughter Courier diary and WDRB reported. WDRB reported that Trice entered an Alford plea, in which a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence to convict him.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday, December 19, in Jefferson Circuit Court.
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In one 2019 interview with WLKYthe baby’s aunt said she and her sister — the child’s mother — left him with Trice this weekend to attend the Kentucky Derby weekend festivities. Before leaving the house, she told the outlet that Trice told her he was excited to buy the child new clothes.
“We were talking about the clothes he got and what he was going to buy for him and stuff,” Tunstill said. “My sister and her boyfriend didn’t argue or anything like that.”
Tanjia Howlett, the baby’s maternal grandmother, told WLKY that Trice called the child’s mother after calling 911.
“I’m angry,” she told the outlet in 2019. “I never thought this would happen to our family.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit www.kinderhulp.org. All conversations are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.