A Dawsonville man will spend 80 years behind bars for seriously injuring an 18-month-old.
Mitchell Dewayne Samples, 29, pleaded guilty Sept. 8 to nine counts of first degree child cruelty, according to Lee Darragh, district attorney.
Samples was given a total sentence of 120 years, but the final 40 years can be served on probation.
He was initially arrested in March, and indicted two months later on 18 felony charges, and admitted during sentencing to burning the child's hands and foot, breaking the child's leg and arm and lacerating the child's spleen and liver, said Darragh.
Samples is the first of two suspects to be tried in the investigation. Amy King, 25, who is the child's mother, was also indicted on nine felony charges, though her case has not reached a plea deal or gone to trial, said Darragh, who declined to elaborate further.
Neither suspect sought medical treatment for the child's injuries.
