Steven Zorn received a life sentence in prison Monday for the January 2008 death of 1-month-old Cora Jean Lockhart.

Buchanan County Judge Pat Robb could've sentenced Mr. Zorn to as little as 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree felony murder, meaning a death resulted in the course of committing an assault on the child. But Mr. Robb parsed no words and found no distinction in Mr. Zorn's favor.

"This is the reason we build prisons," Mr. Robb said immediately before announcing the sentence.

Mr. Zorn pleaded guilty to the charge last month, as the third day of his jury trial was set to proceed. He admitted to being frustrated because he had to wake with Cora Jean at 3 a.m. the day of the death. The day before, the jury had watched Mr. Zorn's videotaped interview, in which he eventually described being frustrated with the infant and striking her repeatedly.

Cora Jean's mother began dating Mr. Zorn and moved her two other children into his house while she was pregnant with Cora Jean. The couple shared parenting duties despite Mr. Zorn not being Cora Jean's biological father.

Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins on Monday described the autopsy findings of the injuries sustained by Cora Jean. He said a medical examiner would've testified that Cora Jean had widespread brain hemorrhaging, retinal hemorrhaging (implying severe shaking), numerous blunt-force traumas and 35 total fractures - 25 between the waist and neck; eight below the waist; and one on each side of her skull.

"A child of this age has very, very malleable, bendable bones," Mr. Scroggins said. "The medical examiner would've testified that it is extremely difficult when you get outside the rib cage to have enough force to cause fractures."

He continued, "Neither the medical examiner nor I had ever seen the type and extent of injuries on a baby of this age that Cora Jean had."

Mr. Robb added in his sentencing that Mr. Zorn's case was not that of a person who briefly lost control and struck a child once.

Mr. Zorn's attorney, Mark Wissehr, described Cora Jean's death as "unfortunate" and "a tragedy."

He noted that Cora Jean's mother, Suzan Lockhart, testified that her children gravitated more toward Mr. Zorn than herself, and that Mr. Zorn had no prior criminal record and no history of abusing the children.

"I don't believe that Steven Zorn woke up that morning thinking, 'I'm going to cause the death of this 36-day-old child,'" Mr. Wissehr said.

He asked for a sentence in the low range of punishment, adding that Mr. Zorn pleaded guilty when given the opportunity to avoid admitting to first-degree murder.

Mr. Zorn could technically become eligible for parole after serving about 26 years, but Mr. Robb noted that becoming eligible for parole doesn't mean Mr. Zorn will ever be freed.

Joe Blumberg can be reached

at joeblumberg@npgco.com.