SIDNEY, Neb. – A North Platte man has been sentenced to prison in connection with the 2021 death of a two-year-old Sidney boy.

Brandon L. Russell, 26, was sentenced this week in Cheyenne County District Court to 45 to 50 years in the Nebraska Department of Corrections after pleading no contest to commit child abuse intentionally resulting in death. He received credit for 405 days served and began his sentence on April 3.

Russell was initially arrested on charges of second-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, and assault by strangulation. As part of a plea agreement, the charges of second-degree murder and assault by strangulation were dropped. He entered the no contest plea on Jan. 24, 2025, according to court records.

The charges stem from an incident on April 5, 2021, when law enforcement and emergency responders were called to a home on the 1500 block of 14th Ave. in Sidney for a report of a two-year-old child not breathing. A Cheyenne County Sheriff’s deputy who followed EMS personnel into the home observed the child lying face-up on a couch, with purple lips and discoloration around the neck and forehead, indicating the child was already deceased.

Court documents stated that Russell had been dating the child’s mother and had been living in the home for about a month prior to the incident.