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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA northern Indiana man was sentenced to 40 years in prison on child neglect charges stemming from the shooting death of his 1-year-old son by the boy’s 4-year-old sibling.
A St. Joseph County judge sentenced Avion Sexton Sr. to the maximum sentence Friday in the June 2020 death of Javion Sexton, who the older sibling killed while playing unsupervised with a gun.
A jury had convicted Sexton, 24, in April on a felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death and several drug dealing and possession charges, the South Bend Tribune reported.
Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Hurley said in sentencing Sexton that he deserved the maximum sentence for creating an “egregious” environment by leaving guns and fentanyl within reach of his children in a South Bend home.
“Your child who pulled the trigger has to live with that with the rest of his life,” Hurley said. “To live with that, I would think, makes these facts and circumstances even that much more egregious.”
The judge also sentenced Sexton to 25 years for his drug dealing convictions, although that sentence will run concurrent with his child neglect sentence.
The boy’s mother, Eboni Hosea, was indicted on criminal charges, including child neglect resulting in death and drug possession. She has entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors and will be sentenced later this month.
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