Justin Smith, 30, accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and risk of injury in state Superior Court Friday, the Hour said. Smith will be sentenced to 15 years in prison, suspended after seven years, with five years of probation.
When he was arrested in November 2011, Norwalk police said his daughter, Hailey Pamela Smith had been admitted to Stamford Hospital on July 27, 2011, with a severe head injury. She was transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital and died July 30.
A police investigation found that Hailey had received treatment for a previous head injury July 2. On both occasions, she had been under the care of her father.
The medical examiner's office conducted an autopsy Aug. 2. The report, released Nov. 8, said the infant suffered skull fractures. The report said blunt head trauma was the cause of death, and the manner of death was classified as a homicide.
At his arraignment in November 2011, Smith glared at photographers and made obscene gestures at them.
"At worst, this is an accident," his attorney Gene Riccio said at the time, "not an intentional situation."
A woman who attended the arraignment told The Daily Voice that she baby-sat Hailey once or twice a week. The first time the baby was hurt, she was told that the dog had stepped on the baby. That was plausible, she said, but the second time she said Smith stated that he put her down on the floor too hard. She didn't believe that and called the Department of Children and Families.
Read the full report from The Hour about Smith's guilty plea here.
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