TYLER, Texas — A Tyler man was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Monday to placing a 4-year-old child in a hot bathtub water and causing third-degree burns requiring the boy to be intubated and placed on a ventilator.
Joshua Tranair Meekings, 27, entered a guilty plea in the 475th District Court to injury to a child with intent to cause serious bodily injury in connection with a May 2022 incident that left his stepson with severe burns. He was then sentenced to 40 years in a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison.
An arrest affidavit stated Child Protective Services notified the Smith County Sheriff's Office about a 4-year-old child who had to be transported to a Dallas hospital from Tyler because of burn injuries.
A doctor told investigators that the 4-year-old suffered burns over 33% to 36% of his body, including his buttocks, back of thighs, complete lower legs and feet, as well as a burn to his right arm, according to the affidavit.
She also told law enforcement that most of the boy's burns are third-degree and considered forced immersion. A water thermometer showed the water was 145°F out of the bathtub faucet and once pooled, in the bathtub it was 140°F, the affidavit stated.
Meekings at first told a CPS official his stepson bumped against a stove where a pot of boiling water was, and caused the contents to spill over the boy's lower body.
Hospital workers told CPS that these burns were consistent with the child being dipped in boiling water, not what Meekings told CPS, the affidavit stated. A CPS official said she was told the child needed multiple rounds of skin grafts for his injuries.
According to the affidavit, the child's babysitter recalled telling Meekings the boy had used the bathroom on himself and he had to go over there to clean the child up.
She said that Meekings undressed the child and placed him in the tub with hot water, while Meekings went to play video games, according to the document.
She said the child could not bear the heat of the water any longer and Meekings then wrapped the boy in a towel. Meekings told deputies that he heard the child “hollering" and he jumped out the water, the affidavit read.
The babysitter's sister said she heard Meekings yelling several times at the boy, who was whining, while both were in the bathroom, the affidavit stated.
Meekings was also charged with robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. The robbery charge, which is connected to Meekings allegedly being involved in working with other inmates to steal from another inmate in the Smith County Jail, was dismissed.
The unlawful possession of a firearm was also dismissed after he pleaded true to that charge, which was considered in his punishment.