KALAMAZOO (WWJ) – A Michigan man accused of killing an infant he was babysitting has been sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Bryant Rolland, Jr., 37, was sentenced to 12 ½ to 40 years in prison on Tuesday for the death of 11-month-old Jaceyon Downey in August 2017.
Rolland, who pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in November, had previously been found guilty of first-degree murder in 2019 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, according to a report from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Rolland was granted a new trial after his attorney was deemed to have provided ineffective counsel, according to the report. He pleaded no contest a week before a jury trial was set to begin.
He has been given credit for more than 1,750 days incarcerated, just under five years.
Authorities say Rolland was babysitting the infant and his then 3-year-old brother Keegan on Aug. 23, 2017 – along with six of his own children. Rolland pushed Downey down a set of stairs. He died four days later at the hospital.
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