Man sentenced to 50 years in prison in child fentanyl overdose case | Local News

Stewart said he found this claim difficult to believe, given Bannister's criminal history involving drugs, including a conviction stemming from an incident two months after the death in which Bannister was convicted of delivery/manufacture of narcotics.

Stewart sentenced Bannister to 16 years, nine months to 50 years in prison for manslaughter, to be served after a mandatory two-year sentence he received for the gun crime.

On the morning of February 5, 2022, first responders were called to a home in the 4000 block of Exchange Road in Shiawassee Township for reports of an infant not breathing. The child was pronounced dead in an ambulance outside the home shortly after authorities arrived.

A medical examiner determined that David Bannister Jr. — who had turned 1 a few days earlier — died of fentanyl poisoning.

His parents – Bannister and Jennifer F. Kincaid, 41, of Flint – have both been charged with several crimes in connection with the death. The baby's twin sister was not injured.

To this day, it is unclear how Bannister Jr. came into contact with the drug, which is often added to other narcotics to increase their potency.

Stewart told Bannister, who was home alone with the twins that morning, that only he knew exactly what happened that day.

Kincaid, who was sentenced last month to 12 1/2 to 30 years in prison in the same courtroom, was not home at the time and was the one who discovered the unconscious baby.

Both parents were initially charged with the same four crimes – second-degree murder, possession of methamphetamine, possession of cocaine, heroin or another narcotic and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (criminal firearm).

Kincaid took her case to trial, while Bannister pleaded guilty in March to an additional count of involuntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm while committing or attempting to commit a felony (weapon criminal fire). A long gun, along with heroin and methamphetamine, were discovered in the residence, resulting in the firearms-related charges.

All other charges against Bannister were dismissed.

At sentencing Friday, Bannister arrived with Michigan Department of Corrections officers, having been transported from the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia.

In February, Bannister was sentenced in Shiawassee County to two years, four months to 30 years in prison for manufacturing/delivering less than 50 grams of cocaine, heroin or another narcotic stemming from the charge of April 2022. He has already been convicted at least seven times of drunk driving.

Bannister's sentence for the felony firearm charge will be served immediately and concurrently with the manufacturing/delivery sentence. He was credited with 107 days of service. The involuntary manslaughter sentence will begin when other prison sentences are completed, and Bannister will receive no credit for time served, Stewart said.

According to court testimony during Kincaid's trial in April, she and her mother were visiting separate methadone clinics in the Lansing area on the morning of February 5, 2022. The twins were at the Shiawassee Township home under the care of their father . Kincaid testified that she arrived home around 10:35 a.m. that day. About an hour later, she discovered her son's lifeless body. At 11:48 a.m., she called 911.

Kincaid's defense included naming Bannister as solely responsible for the child's death, even though Kincaid admitted that she had abused drugs and ingested heroin the night before the baby's death.

In Kincaid's case, murder and misdemeanor gun charges were dropped before his trial. The jury found her not guilty of possession of heroin, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter (which, as in Bannister's case, replaced the second-degree murder charge) and possession of methamphetamine.

Kincaid is serving her sentence at the Huron Valley Women's Complex in Ypsilanti.