A Riversdie man who pleaded no contest to assaulting a one-year-old boy he was caring for at a Buttonwillow motel has been sentenced to two years in prison.

27-year-old Richard Graham claims the child’s skull fractured during a seizure last year, but Deputy Public Defender Paul Cadman says his client only took the deal because he did not think he could get a fair trial in Kern County.

Graham will also have to stay away from the family when he’s released and cannot own a gun.

Kelli Pierce