By Associated Press - Tuesday, March 11, 2014

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - A Springfield man was sentenced to 11 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing his former girlfriend’s 2-year-old son.

Twenty-three-year-old Austin M. Pelley agreed to a plea agreement Monday. He was scheduled to go to court this week for second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.

The Springfield News-Leader reports (https://sgfnow.co/OhLYbi ) court documents indicate the child’s mother, Chelsea Garrison, left her son with Pelley in June 2012 to take a test at Everest College. Garrison says Pelley later told her the boy was injured when he ran into a bathroom and fell, and then went into a catatonic state.



Garrison rushed her son to the hospital but he died two days later.

An autopsy revealed the boy died of abusive head trauma.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, https://www.news-leader.com

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