Father gets 5-to-life sentence for killing baby daughter

Qiana Shipman was only 38 days old before her 17-year-old father shook her so badly that she ended up dying two days later.

Shipman, now 19, stood before 3rd District Judge Robin Reese on Thursday and said he was sorry and would take his punishment like a man.

Shipman previously pleaded guilty to child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony, for what he did Nov. 19, 2007 to his infant daughter. He had been living with the child's 16-year-old mother, Roxanne Robbin, in Taylorsville when killed the child.

Reese rejected recommendations from Shipman's defense attorney for another year in jail and probation, and sentenced Shipman to five-years-to-life in prison. Shipman has been in jail since the child's death.

The judge said another year of simply being locked up would be "dead time" for Shipman, who could benefit from the various types of rehabilitation programs offered in prison. In addition, the judge said justice calls for prison time in a case like this.

"You haven't been convicted of purposely killing the child," Reese told Shipman. "However, after hearing all of the evidence, it's clear to me that something violent happened to this child."

Shipman's lawyer, Catherine Lilly, told the judge that a doctor hired by the defense team suggested the cause of the baby's death was not clear-cut, even though Shipman acknowledged shaking the child. This doctor suggested the baby might have had some pre-existing conditions that compromised her life including a possibly undiagnosed failure to thrive, a possible fall down the stairs or injuries sustained during delivery.

But prosecutor Angela Micklos said the child had many of the classic symptoms of shaken baby syndrome and Shipman, after giving six different stories to police, eventually told one officer he was upset by the baby's crying and shook the infant.

"He told a detective, 'I got mad at her and shook her and shook her and dropped her,' " Micklos said.

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