2, including father, to serve life for 3-year-old’s death

FLORENCE — Two people, including the father of 3-year-old Kaiden Garner, were sentenced to life in prison today in the 2020 beating death of the child.

Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge Ben Graves issued the sentences to Blake Joshwell Townsend and Yalrick Zeonsha Pride to life in prison.

Townsend pleaded guilty in 2022 to aggravated abuse of a child under 62 in exchange for a life sentence. He had faced a capital murder charge. Had he been convicted on that charge, Townsend would have received a sentence of life without parole or death by lethal injection if he had been convicted.

Pride, 23, was convicted of felony murder on Aug. 24.

Both life sentences carry the possbility for parole.

During testimony in Pride's trial, Townsend said she beat Kaiden with a belt she had wrapped around her left hand. He admitted he later drove to various locations, including to buy and smoke marijuana, with Kaiden in the backseat, and later that evening noticed he was not breathing.