Man Pleads Innocent To Killing Baby

A former University of Idaho student accused of violently shaking his infant daughter has pleaded innocent to a first-degree murder charge.

David Craig Pettit, 24, entered his plea Wednesday in 2nd District Court and was scheduled for trial on May 4.

Pettit allegedly shook his 15-week-old daughter, Rebekkah, on Oct. 2, causing fatal bleeding and swelling of the brain.

Pettit, according to court records, told police he was trying to revive the girl after she fell from a chair and struck her head on a table.

But the child’s mother, Dawn Pettit, earlier testified her husband called the baby a “parasite” and wished they had never had the child.

If convicted, Pettit could be sentenced to life in prison, since prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

, DataTimes