Saginaw Man Sentenced in Death of Three-Year-Old

A Saginaw man will spend up to 15 years behind bars for manslaughter after sitting on a child in 2020.

58-year-old John Graves was sentenced in Saginaw County Circuit Court on Wednesday for causing the death of 3-year-old Paris Sharpe. Graves pleaded no contest to the charge of involuntary manslaughter. Authorities say in the early morning hours of September 20th, 2020, Graves was watching Paris and another child while intoxicated. The children were sleeping on a couch when he sat on the girl for roughly 15 minutes. Investigators ruled the cause of death as asphyxiation.

Graves has been in jail for more than 2 years already, and has now been ordered to spend between 50 months and 15 years in prison.