LAWRENCE – A Kansas man has been ordered to spend more than 15 years in prison for abandoning his infant stepdaughter in an apartment complex trash compactor.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 28-year-old Marquis Young was sentenced Friday in Douglas County. That’s where he pleaded no contest in May to reduced charges of aggravated battery and child abuse.
He initially was charged with attempted first-degree murder after the baby was found in July 2016 in the trash bin. The then-9-month-old suffered two skull fractures but has recovered.
Young’s wife has testified she went to spend the night with friends after an argument and left the baby with her husband. He’d been drinking and told investigators he couldn’t remember what happened during the night.
Blood on his shirt matched the infant’s DNA.
