A 21-year-old who pleaded guilty to the shooting death of a two-year-old northwest Missouri girl has been sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg sentenced Marcain Kimbrough-Ballard of St. Joseph after an emotional hearing in a Buchanan County courtroom.
Kimbrough-Ballard, in an earlier court hearing, admitted to firing shots into another car in August of last year. He stated he didn’t know Raelynn Craig was a passenger in the back seat.
Kellogg pronounced the sentence after hearing emotional testimony from Raelynn’s family and pleas for mercy from the family of Kimbrough-Ballard.
Fourteen shots were fired into the car, wounding two adults in the car, plus the fatal shot to the head of Raelynn.
Two others are accused in the shooting. Their court hearings are next month.
Photo courtesy Buchanan County Sheriff
