Man sentenced to life in prison for killing infant
A man convicted of killing a baby was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.
A Pulaski County jury convicted 27-year-old Brent Black of second degree murder and child abuse back in November.
Phelps County Prosecutor Brendon Fox says Black killed the 11-month-old infant in January 2013.
Authorities say an ambulance was dispatched to a home in the 1900 block of Farrar Drive in Rolla on Jan. 26, 2013, to assist an infant who wasn’t breathing. The infant was 11-month-old infant Sapphire Jade Gibbs. Prosecutors say the child was taken to Phelps County Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, where she was pronounced dead.
Black was indicted by a Phelps County grand jury in October 2013. The indictment said Black abused the infant by knowingly inflicting an injury to her head. The indictment also charged Black with second degree murder, saying that the abuse resulted in the child’s death.
After the indictment was unsealed in 2013, Phelps County prosecutors praised the work of Rolla police officers and the St. Louis County Medical Examiner’s Office.
