LANCASTER, Ky. (AP) -- A former group home employee has been sentenced to 20 years in prison in the beating death of one of the home's residents.
Tyler Brock, who is 22, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree manslaughter in the 2011 death of 35-year-old Shawn K. Akridge, a disabled resident at a group home in Paint Lick.
Brock's attorney, Gary Crabtree, argued for probation saying his client was named valedictorian at his high school, had completed three years of college and had never been arrested before.
Akridge's brother, Wayne Akridge, asked that Brock be sent to prison. He said his brother functioned at the level of a 7-year-old and Brock was supposed to protect him.
Judge Hunter Daugherty called the attack "heinous" and said it "defies explanation" on Friday before issuing the sentence.
