KOUNTZE, Texas (AP) _ A Lumberton man was indicted Thursday on a lesser assault charge over the burns his girlfriend’s toddler suffered from being inside a clothes dryer.
A Hardin County grand jury indicted Bobby Lynn Curtis on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon _ the hot dryer.
The 2-year-old was treated for first- and second-degree burns after the 2007 incident.
Curtis initially was charged with first-degree injury to a child, punishable by up to life in prison.
Newly elected prosecutor David Sheffield said Curtis now faces a second-degree felony. He could face two to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Sheffield, who took office in January, told KFDM-TV that he reviewed the case and determined it would have been “impossible” to prove the first-degree felony charge.
Defense attorney Glen Crocker of Beaumont told the Associated Press on Tuesday, “My comment is what took them so long. I’ve been telling the prosecutors for the last year they overcharged the case.”