A Bowling Green man in prison for endangering children will be spending more time behind bars for the death of his daughter.
Gilbert Hughes, 41, was transported from jail Thursday to the courtroom of Wood County Common Pleas Judge Joel Kuhlman.
He pleaded guilty to the amended charge of involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony that carried the maximum penalty of 11 years in prison.
He was indicted in August for murder, which had a potential life sentence.
Hughes was sentenced in October 2016 to eight years in prison by former Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry.
On March 6, 2015, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call about an unresponsive 3-month-old baby in Bowling Green. She was transferred by air ambulance to Toledo Children’s Hospital, where a CT scan showed subdural hematomas on both sides of her brain, which were consistent with abusive head trauma (also known as shaken baby syndrome).
The child was Hughes’ daughter, Shyanne. Born in November 2014, she died on Feb. 15, 2017, from pneumonia caused by a traumatic brain injury, according to the coroner’s report.
“I am remorseful for the events that occurred on those dates,” Hughes said.
Wood County Prosecutor Paul Dobson said Shyanne would have celebrated her 10th birthday this year “if her life hadn’t been cut short by this defendant.”
David Wigant, director of Wood County Job and Family Services, said the impact of this case has been felt by many.
“I’ve never seen a case (promote) so much suffering,” he said.
It took a year for Shyanne to die, and during that time she was in constant pain “and never able to find a place of comfort,” he said.
She also was on oxygen and hospitalized repeatedly, he said.
“In my career, I have not seen that before. It went on and on and on,” he said about the baby’s pain.
He said he and his staff assisted Shyanne’s foster family in picking out a casket.
“The impact goes because Shyanne,” he said, explaining his staff has secondary trauma from working with a child they knew would die.
Wigant said it’s important for a nonverbal child to have someone say everything was taken from her.
Dobson said Wigant and the foster family agreed to the joint sentencing agreement.
Kuhlman followed the joint recommendation and sentenced Hughes, who was scheduled to be released in September on the original charge, to an additional nine years in prison.
He has been incarcerated in the North Central Correctional Institute in Marion.
