Man who slapped crying toddler on plane sentenced to 8 months in prison
A man who pleaded guilty to slapping a crying toddler on a Delta airline flight has been sentenced.
Joe Rickey Hundley will serve 8 months in prison for his actions during the incident.
Prosecutors say Hundley used a racial slur to refer to the 19-month-old boy, who is black, and hit him under the eye as the flight descended to the Atlanta airport in February. Prosecutors had recommended six months in prison. The judge said he imposed a higher sentence in part because of Hundley’s criminal history, which includes a prior assault.
Hundley originally denied calling the child a derogatory name, but has since admitted to the offense. The child’s mother Jessica Bennett said that Hundley told her “to shut that n-word baby up” before slapping her son in the face. Bennett also says that Hundley reeked of alcohol.
His lawyer Marcia Shein says that her client was not well when the altercation occurred. Shein claims that Hundley had been up for a full day before the incident and was traveling to Atlanta to take his child off of life support.
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