A US man has been sentenced to eight months in prison for slapping a toddler on an Atlanta-bound jet last year, a tougher than expected punishment.
Joe Rickey Hundley had negotiated an agreement that would have sent him to prison for six months in exchange for his guilty plea.
US Magistrate Alan Baverman decided on a stiffer sentence after considering that Hundley had been on probation for drink-driving and had been convicted of assault in Virginia.
Hundley admitted using a racial slur to the mother of the toddler, who was crying during the flight.
The toddler's mother, Jessica Bennett, told investigators that Hundley told her to "to shut that [n-word] baby up" before he slapped the 19-month-old on the face.
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Bennett and her child were in the seat next to Hundley's.
Hundley was on his way to Atlanta to take his only child off life support after his son had overdosed on insulin, Hundley's lawyer, Marcia Shein, said in court filings.
Shein said Hundley had been awake 24 hours straight before the altercation on the plane and that his son died days later.
Hundley, former president of Unitech Composites and Structures, was fired by his company's parent company after news of the allegations.
Bennett spoke at Monday's sentencing, saying her son, Jonah, suffered emotional scars from the incident.
