W. Pa. man gets long prison term in boy's death

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh-area man will spend 22 to 44 years in state prison for murdering his wife’s 2-year-old grandson while the boy was in his care.

Eric Dennis, 44, of Clairton, was sentenced today by Judge Beth Lazzara of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, who found him guilty of third-degree murder in November.

County prosecutors say Dennis was babysitting Tashaud Thompson and his younger brother on March 22, 2010, while their grandmother was running errands.

When the woman returned, the child was limp, making a snoring sound and had a tuft of hair pulled from his head.

Johnson denied injuring the child, but later said the boy had fallen.

But Judge Lazzara determined that only Dennis would have caused the “startling” brain injuries that caused the boy’s death the next day.