West Virginia man sentenced to 10 years in prison after Louisville 3-year-old dies with severe burns, head trauma

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A West Virginia man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a Louisville 3-year-old boy in his care died from physical abuse has been sentenced.

Keith Kennedy-McLeod accepted an Alford plea in Jefferson Circuit Court and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He is ineligible for probation and must serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

An Alford plea deal means he maintains his innocence but has accepted a plea bargain.

Kennedy-McLeod was charged after the boy was brought to the hospital with third-degree burns and head trauma in November 2020, according to court documents. Officers with the Jeffersontown Police Department were called to the hospital Nov. 23 and observed third-degree burns on his feet, legs, buttock and genitals.

Police said the burns were consistent with sitting in a hot bathtub and that fingernail marks were found around the boy's hip area that were in various degrees of healing.

Kennedy-McLeod, the boyfriend of the boy's mother, initially told officers the boy was burned when he turned on the water for the bathtub and got in himself.

Health care workers who examined the boy also discovered that he had suffered from head trauma that included bruising and cranial swelling that required surgery, according to court documents.

Police say doctors told them that injury could not have been caused by falling in the bathtub, and was consistent with being shaken.

The boy was eventually placed on life support, but according remained in a coma for weeks. He died Dec. 28, according to Jefferson County deputy coroner Anthony Wight.

But police said Kennedy-McLeod admitted to shaking the child and was the primary person who gave the boy baths.

The boy's mother said the child did not have any injuries before she left him in Kennedy-McLeod's care at a hotel when she was on her way to work.

Related Stories: