CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A St. Albans man who said the devil
made him be cruel to his children has been sentenced to four decades in prison for the February 2007 shaking death of his 3-month-old son.

Thirty-three-year-old Joseph Edwin Dawson pleaded guilty in January to charges of child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing death and child abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian causing injury.

The 40-year sentence handed down yesterday by a Kanawha County
circuit judge is the maximum possible for the fatal charge. Dawson
also received a consecutive one-to-five-year sentence for the
injury charge, which stemmed from an incident in which he broke the
clavicle of his 3-year-old stepson in May 2006.

In a June letter to his now ex-wife, Dawson detailed the abuse of the children but said it was Satan who was controlling his actions.