Shiawassee County man sentenced in child's death

CORUNNA, MI – Shiawassee County Circuit Court Judge Matthew J. Stewart sentenced a 47-year-old man to between 200 and 600 months in prison after he pleaded guilty in the death of his 1-year-old son.

David Ross Bannister, who is already an inmate at the Richard A. Handlon Correctional Center, a Level 2 security prison in Ionia, was sentenced following his March 18 guilty plea to manslaughter and felony firearm charges .

His conviction, Friday June 7, comes a week after the victim's mother, Jennifer Kincaid, was also sentenced. She was sentenced to serve more than a decade behind bars for her role in the child's death.

Related: Shiawassee County mother to serve more than a decade in prison for child's drug-related death

Kincaid and Bannister were arrested on October 20, 2022, following an investigation that lasted several months.

Police previously told MLive-The Flint Journal that officers were called to the couple's home following a report of an unresponsive infant.

When authorities arrived, they discovered the child – 1-year-old David Bannister, Jr. – had died.

A toxicology report later determined the child died of acute fentanyl poisoning, police said.

The victim was one of a set of twins belonging to the couple, police said.

The other twin was removed from the couple's care.