Sentencing delayed for man in death of girlfriend’s baby

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 2:45 p.m.

A Las Vegas man who has been convicted of second-degree murder by child neglect in the 2010 slaying of his girlfriend’s 16-month-old daughter, Addison Weast, will have to wait until June to learn what his prison term will be.

Cody Geddings, 26, who could face a prison term ranging from 10 years to life, had been expecting to find out his sentenced on Tuesday.

However, Clark County District Judge Douglas Herndon told attorneys he would delay the sentencing until 9 a.m. June 6 because of issues raised by the defense about the Department of Parole and Probation’s pre-sentence report.

Also, University Medical Center, where the girl was taken for her head injuries, was filing a restitution request and the judge was waiting for that document, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Staudaher.

Herndon did take some action Tuesday — after hearing arguments from attorneys, he denied a motion for a new trial submitted by Geddings’ attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders Shana Bachman and Norman Reed.

Geddings, who was originally charged with first-degree murder and child abuse with substantial bodily harm in the case, was found guilty on Jan. 20 of the lesser charge of second-degree murder by child neglect.

During his two week trial, prosecutors had said Geddings violently shook the girl or slammed her into something, then tried to cover it up by telling her mother the girl suffered injuries by falling out of a playpen. Geddings later changed his story to say that the girl had followed him into the back yard and had knocked over a large oxygen tank used in welding that fell on her head.

He claimed he had "freaked out" and tried to cover up the accident because he was afraid of going to jail because he was awaiting sentencing on a misdemeanor child endangerment charge involving his own son. Prosecutors said he made up his second story because detectives had convinced him that the girl couldn't have died from falling from a playpen.