Oklahoma Man Sentenced To Life For Drowning Toddler Daughter

A southeast Oklahoma man convicted of drowning his 21-month-old daughter in July 2016 has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Devin Sizemore, 23, was sentenced Wednesday in Pittsburg County District Court in the death of Emily Sizemore, according to court records.

“Young Emily appeared to have so many fail her over her short life,” Mills said. “The one person that should have been her protector against any and all harm, her father, was the one that failed her the most.”

Police were searching for Sizemore and the girl when they found the two in the early morning hours of July 14, 2016, in a pond near Krebs, according to court documents. The girl was floating face down, and Sizemore fought with officers who pulled the child from the water, police said.

Sizemore was also sentenced to a concurrent five year prison sentence for assaulting a police officer.

Sizemore’s attorneys, Matthew Sheets and Michael Miller, are considering filing an appeal, The McAlester News-Capital reported .

The trial was delayed last year due to a debate over whether the child died on Native American land and thus whether Sizemore should be tried by the federal government or the state. Sizemore was convicted in September.

“It would be the hope of this court, Mr. Sizemore, that every day for the rest of your life, that the horror of that crime that you’ve committed against your own child weighs heavily on your soul — and that with every breath that you take, you think about her last,” Mills said.