Joplin man sent to prison for punching girl
Jun. 14—A Jasper County judge sentenced a Joplin man Monday to six years in prison for punching a 5-year-old girl in the stomach, resulting in a perforation of her bowel and sending her into septic shock.
Judge Dean Dankelson assessed 35-year-old Justin M. Black the prison term on a conviction for felony child abuse at his sentencing hearing in Jasper County Circuit Court.
Black had entered an Alford plea April 18 to a Class D felony count of child abuse in a plea agreement dismissing a separate count of child molestation that he was facing with respect to a separate incident involving the girl. An Alford plea admits no guilt but acknowledges the likelihood of a conviction if the matter were to proceed to trial.
The defendant originally was charged with a Class B felony count of child abuse, which carries from five to 15 years in prison. His plea deal reduced the count to a Class D felony, which carries up to seven years.
The physical abuse took place June 4, 2017, and landed the girl in Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City for about three weeks, according to a probable-cause affidavit.
About a year later, after the girl had turned 6 years old, she was interviewed and disclosed that Black sometime between January and July 2017 had molested her. The charge based on that case was dismissed in the plea deal.
Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.
