John Jefferson
Left to right: Anthony Trice (Louisville Metro Department of Corrections) and De’Anthony Trice (Facebook).
A 32-year-old father in Kentucky will spend decades behind bars for killing his newborn son, fatally punching the infant’s head in a fit of rage after losing a video game.
A Jefferson Circuit Court judge on Thursday ordered Anthony Trice to serve 20 years in a state correctional facility for the brutal 2019 slaying of young De’Anthony Trice, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Trice, who was initially charged with one count each of domestic violence murder and first-degree child abuse, in November reached a deal with prosecutors and agreed to enter an Alford plea to one count of first-degree manslaughter. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped the remaining charges.
An Alford plea is when a defendant maintains their innocence but concedes that the state has enough evidence to convict them at trial.
According to an arrest report from the Louisville Metro Police Department obtained by Louisville Fox affiliate WDRB, Trice on the evening of May 3, 2019, was at his home in the 1100 block of West Jefferson Street watching the boy when the incident occurred.
He was reportedly in his bedroom playing a video game at the time. At some point, Trice reportedly began losing the game and became so angry that he threw the remote control. Still enraged, authorities said that Trice then punched his 1-month-old son in the head with a closed fist.
After being struck, the boy reportedly began hysterically crying. Trice then picked up the boy and attempted to console him before carrying him into the kitchen. However, on the way to the kitchen, Trice reportedly dropped the victim onto the ground. He then picked up his son, got him a bottle, and brought his son back into his bedroom where he “propped him up in a seated position,” authorities said.
In the bedroom, Trice piled up a blanket in front of the boy to hold the bottle in his mouth and then went to the bathroom, Louisville CBS affiliate WLKY reported.
Trice said when he returned from the bathroom he realized his son was “in distress” and called 911. Emergency medical personnel responded to the home and transported the child to Norton Children’s Hospital, the Courier-Journal reported.
At some point after the violent incident but before authorities arrived, Trice spoke to the child’s maternal grandmother on the phone. She later recounted that conversation to WLKY.
“He was like, ‘Get to the hospital. The baby was throwing up milk,”” the grandmother, Tanjia Howlett, reportedly said. “So, I told my daughter, ‘Why would he take the baby to the hospital for choking on baby milk?’”
De’Anthony was initially admitted to the hospital in “serious” condition, but the boy later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead two days later.
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