Messner

The Marshall County man charged with shaking his infant son to death was sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence Monday morning.

Judge Jeff Cramer sentenced Daniel Messner, 28, formerly of McMechen, to a sentence of between 20 and 40 years in prison for the death of 86-day-old Christian Messner. The convicted Messner entered an Alford plea in January, maintaining his innocence but admitting that he would likely be convicted at trial.

Messner was sentenced to 15 years for voluntary manslaughter, three to 15 years for child neglect causing death, and two to 10 years for malicious assault, an effective sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison. Messner had served a portion of his time on house arrest due to delays between his 2019 arrest and his conviction, but had been remanded to state custody since entering his plea earlier this year.

Prosecutor Joe Canestraro extended his thanks to law enforcement, the medical staff at Wheeling Hospital and Ruby Memorial Hospital, and the medical examiner’s office for their investigation.

“Hopefully this helps bring some justice and closure to the mother of the child,” Canestraro said.

In November, Marshall County police and first responders answered a 911 call at Messner’s home, where the infant child was reportedly not breathing. After a medical examination by a doctor at Ruby, Christian had suffered what was described as “the most violent case of ‘shaken baby’ that he had ever seen,” according to Bryan Gaus, a former investigator with the prosecutor’s office, including numerous brain bleeds and other significant brain damage.

Christian Messner died on Nov. 21, 2019. The doctor also added that the child’s death was “the result of extreme violence, and the child’s death was nearly instantaneous,” according to court records.

Canestraro had previously stated that several of Christian’s organs were donated, with his heart having gone to a child in Cincinnati, and his kidneys going to an adult.

Christian was able to be resuscitated and kept alive due to the first aid efforts of sheriff’s deputy Nate Klempa and Marshall County EMS.

Messner’s arrest report indicates that he gave police a variety of excuses for the child’s condition, including that he “might” have hit the infant’s head off a table and the hard case of his swing, before eventually confessing to shaking the baby.