Man who abandoned infant given 20-year prison sentence

URBANA, Ill. (AP) - A 20-year prison sentence has been handed a man found guilty but mentally ill of attempted murder and child abduction after abandoning his 6-month-old baby daughter in a bean field.

In sentencing 24-year-old Thomas Boitnott of St. Joseph on Tuesday, Judge Tom Difanis ruled it was "incredibly important" Boitnott has no contact with children "for the foreseeable future."

Difanis found Boitnott guilty despite an opinion from a court-appointed psychiatrist that Boitnott did not understand the criminality of his actions. The infant was missing for about 15 hours before sheriff's deputies found her in a muddy field

Last month, defense attorney Tom Bruno asked Difanis to reconsider his ruling, but the judge denied his request, saying the evidence did not clearly relieve Boitnott from having to take responsibility for his actions.