Judge made murderer choose his own prison sentence without realising after claiming he was innocent

Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse which some readers may find distressing.

A murderer unknowingly set himself up to receive the 'maximum sentence' after a judge let him dictate his own punishment.

Christopher McNabb, from Covington, Georgia, was found guilty of killing his 15-day-old daughter Caliyah in 2019.

Take a look at his sentencing here:

The jury heard how the dad and his girlfriend Courtney Marie Bell were under the influence of crystal meth when he beat the the tragic tot to death in October 2017.

The parents initially told police that their little girl had been abducted from their trailer park home while they were sleeping, and pretended that they had been frantically searching for Caliyah.

The following day, her body was discovered inside of a Nike backpack in a wooded area close to the property.

The court was told that the family's home was filthy and that the relationship between McNabb and Bell was filled with violence and drug use.

McNabb admitted that he had been physically abusive towards Caliyah’s mother, but told police he was not responsible for the two-week-old baby's murder.

According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Bell said in her interrogation: "I am guilty because I did drugs, but I ain’t never seen this comin’, that’s my baby. I went to put her to sleep and I woke up and she was gone."

The parents maintained their innocence throughout the trial, but both were found guilty.

Christopher McNabb insisted he was innocent but was ultimately found guilty of murdering the baby girl (YouTube/11 Alive)

McNabb was convicted of malice murder, felony murder, murder in the second degree, aggravated battery, cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, and concealing the death of another.

Bell was found guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree child cruelty, and contributing to the dependency of a minor.

She was handed a sentence of 30 years, the first 15 of which would be in confinement - although the Georgia Court of Appeals later reversed the murder and cruelty convictions, according to The Covington News.

At McNabb's sentencing, the killer continued to protest his innocence, and he told the judge: "I'm innocent, I didn't do it. I've maintained that the whole time.

"I just don't understand how you find somebody guilty of doing something to a 15-day-old baby, because there was no evidence whatsoever that proved anything about me putting my hands on those kids.

"I've never done it, I never would. I don't believe in it. I was beat as a child and I don't agree with it at all. I would never do it. I would never do this. That's all I got to say. I'm innocent."

The judge wasn't swayed by McNabb's last ditch attempt at proclaiming his innocence and told the dad that he had 'one simple question' to ask him.

He unknowingly set himself up to get the 'maximum' sentence (YouTube/11 Alive)

"You claim you're innocent," the judge said. "So, you tell me what sentence the man or woman that you claim did this should receive?"

McNabb replied: "If you ever find out who did it, they deserve to be under the jail," to which the judge then responded: "Okay...so they ought to get the maximum sentence?"

After McNabb said 'most definitely', the judge then said: "On the crime of malice murder, I sentence you to life in confinement without parole."

The prosecutor accused the dad of producing 'fake tears' in the courtroom and said the comments he made about how much he loved his children were 'a joke'.

"That child didn't do anything but need love, and her daddy killed her," District Attorney Layla Zon said of Caliyah. "She was a gift to Cortney Bell and Christopher McNabb.

"That child was doomed the moment they left that hospital. They took pure innocence and brought that child into a life of hell."