Former Dover airman convicted in toddler's death

A former airman stationed at the Dover Air Force Base has been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the 2012 death of a toddler under his care, a Delaware Department of Justice spokesman said.

The Kent County jury's conviction Thursday is a step down from the more serious charge of first-degree murder by abuse or neglect that Justin K. Corbett was being tried on.

Corbett now faces between 0 and 8 years in prison, instead of the 15 years to life he would have faced with a murder conviction.

Over the past two weeks, the 28-year-old Dover man has been on trial for the death of a 21-month-old boy, Evan J. Dudley, left in his care while the boy's mother was deployed to Qatar. Delaware authorities arrested Corbett and charged him with murder in 2014 – 15 months after the toddler's death.

Corbett originally told police the boy fell down eight carpeted stairs on the afternoon of Nov. 3, 2012, while he was alone with Evan and his own 18-month-old child. The state medical examiner, however, ruled the death a homicide by blunt-force trauma.

STORY: Baby's death an accident, ex-airman said

About 3:52 p.m. that day, Corbett called 911 from his then-base home in the 1000 block of Avocado Ave., requesting emergency assistance, police said. Evan died in a hospital four days later.

Corbett is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 15.

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @jessicamasulli.

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