Tacoma man gets 28 years for fatally beating his son, 3

Kingsa McKnight violated a sacred trust in June 2014, first by beating his 3-year-old son into a coma because the boy had wet the bed and then by failing to immediately seek help for the child.

Instead of calling 911, McKnight, 34, spent time researching treatment options on the Internet and then, instead of calling 911, drove Terrence Green to the hospital, where the boy lingered on life support for two days before dying.

“He failed to do what he was supposed to do, which was protect his son,” Kendrick Haynes, a friend of Terrence’s mother, told Superior Court Judge Helen Whitener on Friday. “For that, he deserves the max.”

Whitener agreed, handing down a high-end sentence of 28 years, seven months to McKnight, who previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in his son’s death.

“This was your child,” Whitener told McKnight. “This child was looking to you not just for protection, but for love.”

Terrence died June 23, 2014, two days after his father carried his limp body into an emergency room.

Doctors examined Terrence and found he’d suffered head injuries and rib fractures. They suspected child abuse and alerted authorities.

Investigators discovered McKnight had taken the boy to an urgent-care clinic about a week before, telling medical workers there Terrence had been lethargic and vomiting frequently, court records show.

They also discovered text messages he’d sent to the boy’s mother complaining about potty-training frustrations, deputy prosecutor Heather de Maine said in court Friday.

“This is not a situation where the defendant lost his temper on one occasion,” said de Maine, who requested a high-end sentence.

Defense attorney Jason Johnson argued for a sentence near the lower end of the range, in the neighborhood of 20 years.

Johnson told Whitener that his client grew up in foster care and was ill-prepared to care for a young boy when he began watching Terrence five or six days a week while the boy’s mother worked. Up until about six months before Terrence’s death, McKnight had not been a part of the boy’s life, Johnson said.

“I think his desire to be a parent was greater than his ability, and that was his downfall,” the defense attorney said.

McKnight then got his chance to talk.

“I am sorry that my son is not here,” he said. “I have pain every day. I took great pride in my son.”

Whitener went last.

She said McKnight’s actions on June 21 stood in stark contrast with his comment to her, and she called the beating “egregious” and his behavior in the aftermath “lackadaisical” at best.

Whitener then gave him the high end, which sparked applause among Terrence’s relatives and friends.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 5:35 PM with the headline "Tacoma man gets 28 years for fatally beating his son, 3."