BATON ROUGE, La. — A man was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to killing an infant girl in Baton Rouge, according to WBRZ.
Jonathon Dunn, 34 at the time, was arrested on March 27, 2021, when officers found 1-year-old Ja'leah Fontenot unresponsive with bruises including a large burn on her back at "an address on Peerless Street around 11 p.m."
She was taken to the hospital where she later died.
Police also arrested Ja'leah's mother, Christy Fontenot, who was Dunn's girlfriend at the time. A family member said Dunn was caring for the child when he got high and passed out, our partners reported.
"He felt something either bite or scratch him. He just slung it to the wall. How could you not know that's a baby? She was a big baby. How could you not know this?" said Ja'leah's aunt, Lorna Sterling.
Sterling said other family members asked Fontenot to stop leaving Ja'leah in Dunn's care after he threatened to kill the child.
Dunn was originally booked for first-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. Court records show he was indicted for second-degree murder only, which Dunn pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the mandatory life term for second-degree murder.
Dunn is housed in East Baton Rouge Parish prison and faces a life sentence.
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