A Texas man was convicted of torturing his twin 6-year-old daughters and sentenced to life in prison after one of them died.
Justin Hopper, 33, was found guilty of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury on Thursday after beating his twin daughters, a pattern of behavior that resulted in the death of 6-year-old Arianna Battelle, according to court documents reviewed by PEOPLE.
Hopper was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of release and required to pay a $10,000 fine.
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According to KBTX, the jury pondered for 15 minutes before reaching its conclusion.
Jessica Bundren, the twins’ stepmother, was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 after being convicted of willfully injuring a child and causing serious bodily harm that resulted in death.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Hopper and Bundren physically assaulted Arianna and her sister for bedwetting and eating too slowly.
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As previously reported by PEOPLE, Arianna was discovered dead in her family’s house on October 27, 2020, after Bryan police responded to a 911 call about a kid not breathing, according to KBTX. Bundren first told police that Arianna had fallen down the stairs, and when she went to check on her later in bed, the girl was not breathing, according to KHOU.
Officers discovered Arianna on the floor of her bedroom, covered in a sheet. Her face and legs were bruised, and her chest was covered in welts with puncture wounds.
Bundren later told authorities that when Arianna wet the bed, she struck her with a belt and forced her to sleep on the floor, according to the Bryan-College Station Eagle.
According to KTBX, a forensic nurse who claims to have treated hundreds of children testified that this was the worst abuse case she had ever witnessed.
Kimberly Elias, Hopper’s stepmother, expressed her satisfaction with the result.
“I think justice was served, and I think anything less than the maximum would’ve diminished the seriousness of the crime,” she told KBTX.
Hopper will be eligible for release in 2054.