By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 26-year-old Montgomery man has been sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to slamming his 3-month-old son against the wall and onto the ground, killing him, in 2012.

Tremain Vanteas Gates, who lists an address in the 400 block of East Park Avenue in Montgomery and previously listed an address in Calera, was sentenced to life in prison during a late July hearing in Shelby County Circuit Court. Gates avoided the death penalty and had a first-degree assault charge dismissed through a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The Calera Police Department arrested Gates on Aug. 29, 2012 and originally charged him with domestic violence and first-degree assault. The arrest came four days after Gates “slammed (the 3-month-old child) into (the) corner of the wall and threw (him) to (the) hard floor of the residence” on Aug. 25, 2012, according to court records.

The child’s mother returned to the residence, located at the 300 block of Sumner Drive in Calera, on the morning of Aug. 26 to find the child “not acting like his normal self,” as he could only open one eye, and was acting extremely lethargic and whimpering in an atypical fashion, according to court records.

The woman took her child to Shelby Baptist Medical Center in Alabaster, and the child was lifeflighted to Children’s Hospital, according to court records. Physicians determined the child had a fractured skull.

After the infant died on Sept. 11, 2012, police elevated Gates’ charge to capital murder.

Gates, who attended Chilton County High School from 2002-2006, has remained in the Shelby County Jail since his arrest after he was denied bond during a December 2012 hearing.