30 years in shaken baby death

PALMER — A Wasilla-area man will serve 30 years in prison for the shaking death of his infant daughter.

Burton Naczi, 23, an unemployed carpenter, was sentenced Friday to 60 years with 30 suspended.

Alaska State Troopers say the baby’s mother discovered her daughter’s injuries in November 2007, immediately after she returned home from a visit with Naczi. In August, Naczi pleaded guilty to a count of second-degree murder, assistant district attorney Rachel Gernat said.

Gernat said the case was especially aggravated, given the actions Naczi took after shaking 6-month-old baby Kaydence.

Naczi put the baby girl in a set of plastic filing drawers, Gernat said, pulled her legs through an opening in a drawer and left her there. When she didn’t stop crying, Gernat said, he moved her to a different spot and left her unattended for 12 hours.

And, she said, it wasn’t the first time Kaydence had been shaken.

“There had been an incident of shaking one or two months prior,” which Naczi admitted to, Gernat said. That incident left Kaydence hospitalized.

According to court documents, the injuries that led to Kaydence’s death were not discovered until her mother brought her home from a 22-hour visit with Naczi.

The mother noticed the girl had extensive bruising and seemed lethargic. Naczi told troopers he partially covered Kaydence with a blanket prior to her mother’s arrival.

She was flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage with hemorrhages in her eye and brain and extensive bruising to her knees, arms, chest, ribs and face. Despite surgery to relieve pressure on her brain, Kaydence died in the hospital.

“They didn’t know if she would’ve lived if she’d gotten immediate help,” Gernat said.

Naczi was arrested Nov. 19, 2007, the day after Kaydence died, according to trooper reports.

Confronted with the baby’s injuries, Naczi initially told his daughter’s mother he’d tripped while carrying girl and fallen down some stairs. Eventually, Naczi told troopers he shook the baby and threw her on a couch.

After his release, Naczi will be on probation for 15 years, during which time he could be sentenced to serve the 30 suspended years of his term if he slips up. By law, he can receive a one-third reduction in his time if he behaves in prison, meaning the earliest he could be eligible for parole is when he is 43 years old.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.