Father who fatally beat infant sentenced to prison

A father who fatally beat his infant daughter will serve time in prison.

Kristopher Dale Arlando Henderson, 41, was sentenced Tuesday in Blue Earth County Court to 15 years in prison on charges of 2nd-degree murder without intent.

In November, Henderson entered an Alford plea, which means he didn’t admit he was guilty of the crime, but knew the state had enough evidence to convict him.  Charges of manslaughter, assault, and malicious punishment of a child were dropped as part of a plea deal.

Judge Gregory J Anderson gave Henderson credit for nearly one and a half years already served in jail.  Since Minnesota inmates serve one-third of their prison sentence on supervised probation, Henderson will serve about 9 1/2 years in prison.

In Sept 2021, the mother of Henderson’s two-month-old child returned home from work to find the girl was fussy and had bulging eyes.  The baby was x-rayed at an emergency room where it was determined she’d suffered multiple leg fractures, brain hemorrhaging, and broken ribs.  The baby was declared brain-dead several days later and died at the hospital in early November.

Henderson admitted to investigators that he had cradled the child face down and repeatedly struck her back for about five minutes with force enough to break the baby’s ribs.  He was initially charged with assault before the infant died.

Henderson was also sentenced Tuesday in a 2019 assault case in which he was accused of brutally beating his roommate over a utility bill.  Court documents say he repeatedly smashed the women’s head against a stair and strangled her.  He was convicted of 3rd-degree assault and sentenced to two years in prison, which is to be served concurrently with his murder sentence.