An Alabama man will spend 20 years in prison after his baby son died from starvation.
Kristopher Matthews, 40, from Elmore County, was found guilty of child abuse in August. The case involved the death of his two-month-old son, Karson, back in 2018.
District Attorney CJ Robinson shared that Karson weighed just over six pounds at birth but weighed much less when he died two months later.
Matthews admitted he never took Karson to the doctor after they left the hospital. He also said he never fed the baby himself because he thought it wasn’t his job as the father.
Robinson described the photos from the case as something out of a “horror movie,” saying the baby’s body was like “a dirty, skin-covered skeleton.”
The baby’s mother, Shirley Matthews, was found guilty of the same crime last year and also received a 20-year prison sentence.
Robinson said that the parents “completely destroyed the life of their baby boy by neglecting his existence until he died.” He called it one of the toughest cases they’ve ever prosecuted, saying the baby’s death was “completely avoidable.”
Judge Amanda Baxley, who presided over the sentencing, called the case “horrific.” She mentioned that while she wished she could give a longer sentence, the law at the time limited the punishment. She noted that Alabama law has since changed to allow for harsher sentences in similar cases, but the new law didn’t apply to Matthew’s crime.
