By Gary Bass
LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - An Angelina County judge sentenced a Lufkin man who seriously injured a 1-year-old boy by continuously slapping him in the head to 30 years in prison Friday.
Demmish DeShaun Morgan Jr. appeared in Judge Bob Inselmann’s 217th Judicial District Court for a sentencing hearing Friday. Morgan pleaded guilty the charge earlier this year.
When Morgan was initially arrested in April, he was charged with first-degree injury to a child.
According to an arrest affidavit, deputies with the Angelina County Sheriff's Office were dispatched at 8:45 p.m. to a Lufkin hospital in reference to a child with head trauma and brain bleed. They then learned the child had been taken to a Houston hospital.
The affidavit states the child's mother said she lives with her boyfriend, Morgan, and his family. She said Morgan is very abusive to her and her son and that the son was whining and would not stop and Morgan got angry and started slapping him on the side of his face and head, according to the affidavit. The mother said she told Morgan to stop, but he continued slapping the boy, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states the mother when to the bathroom and when she came out, Morgan was holding the boy and was crying hysterically. Morgan said something was wrong with the boy and the boy's right arm was clenched up and his eyes were rolled to the back of his head, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states Morgan splashed the boy with cold water to get him to wake up and then a neighbor took the boy to the hospital.
A nurse at the hospital said the boy was lethargic and did not interact with staff. A test showed the boy had suffered an acute traumatic intercranial injury with a six-millimeter subdural hematoma.
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