A Great Bend man charged with first-degree murder following the death of his 5-month-old daughter in 2019 has been convicted of lesser charges following a plea agreement.

Cody Lane Reed was scheduled to appear in Barton County District Court on Tuesday but instead entered his plea to amended changes at the end of June. He entered a plea of “no contest” to murder in the second degree, for “unlawfully and intentionally” killing a human being, and to two counts of aggravated battery, defined as recklessly causing great bodily harm.

Case background

According to a 2019 news release from the Great Bend Police Department, on the morning of Jan. 28, 2019, the GBPD and the Great Bend Fire and EMS were dispatched to an apartment in the 1300 block of Cherry Place, where 5-month-old Lettizia Reed was unresponsive. She was transported to The University of Kansas Health System - Great Bend Campus Emergency Room. Life-saving measures were attempted on scene and at the emergency room before she was flown to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita in critical condition. The infant died on Jan. 31, 2019.

Great Bend Police Chief David Bailey said at the time that an autopsy had been performed and although the results were pending, the cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head.

Reed was arrested on Feb. 6, 2019. He was 20 years old.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office handled the prosecution and a jury trial on five criminal counts was scheduled to start on Jan. 31, 2022. In addition to first-degree murder, earlier charges included two felony counts of child abuse and misdemeanor charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

After Reed enter his “no contest” plea on June 29, the state provided a factual basis for the charges and Barton County District Judge Carey Hipp found Reed guilty.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 5.