Miami man sentenced to life in prison for beating death of foster

MIAMI, Okla. (AP) -- An Ottawa County man was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for fatally abusing his 5-year-old foster son two years ago.

James Clayton Millhollin was found guilty in October by a Craig County jury of abusing Michael Buxton, who had been placed in the home of Millhollin and his wife, Shelly, by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

The Craig County trial followed a mistrial in Ottawa County that was declared because potential jurors said Millhollin "ought to be hung."

Millhollin's attorney, Silas R. Lyman III, appealed the sentence Thursday.

The Millhollins took the boy to Miami's Baptist Regional Medical Center on July 4, 1998, and told hospital authorities that the boy had hit his head on a metal stock tank while diving into the water.

The boy was then transferred to a Tulsa hospital, where he died the next day from brain swelling caused by blunt trauma, according to an autopsy report.

Shelly Millhollin divorced her husband and testified against him at his trial.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect in November and received a two-year suspended sentence and fines totaling $750.

Michael had been taken out of his home after his biological father was convicted in February 1998 of beating the boy with an electrical cord.