Man sentenced to four years in prison in the starvation death of his infant son

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – A federal judge in Rapid City has sentenced a father to four years in prison for the starvation death of his infant son.

Judge Jeffrey Viken acknowledged Thursday the sentence might upset some people because it was substantially lower than federal guidelines of 17 to 21 years in prison. Twenty-six-year-old Darwin Wade Red Cloud pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2014 of his two-month-old son.

Red Cloud’s lawyer, Betsey Harris, saying he accepted responsibility, was cooperative with investigators and didn’t understand what it meant to care for a child, but now realized he should have asked for help.

AP-WF-01-04-19 1208GMT