Blanton was convicted for assault of two-year-old

An Ironton man was sentenced on Monday to the maximum for assaulting a child.

According to a Facebook post from Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson, Shane Blanton was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Christen Finley to the maximum of 76 to 81.5 years in prison for four counts of attempted murder and four counts of felonious assault.

This was the maximum permitted under law.

“The evidence was horrendous and overwhelming as Blanton himself had recorded these acts which were recovered from digital devices and cloud storage by investigators,” the post read. “During my nearly 20-year career as a prosecutor in Lawrence County this was among the most difficult and disturbing acts of violence I have ever witnessed.”

Blanton pleaded guilty last week to the eight counts that stemmed from an investigation of him cruelly torturing, abusing, and strangling a two-year-old child to the point of unconsciousness on numerous occasions spanning a seven-month time span.

The case began on the afternoon of April 5, after the Ironton Police Department received a call from Lawrence County Children Services about a child abuse case and need for law enforcement. A patrol officer was sent and once they realized the severity of the case and called in the IPD detective bureau to investigate.

Police said they found evidence that Blanton had committed an assault. Blanton was not there when officers arrived. He was arrested later that day in Coal Grove by the village’s police chief, Bill Murphy.

Anderson’s office thanked the Ironton Police Department, Lawrence County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force, the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, the Coal Grove Police Department, Lawrence County Children Services, Hope’s Place, and the Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center for their efforts in the case.