An American Fork man was sentenced to 20 years to life at the Utah State Prison on Tuesday for the child abuse death of his toddler son, but the judge left open the possibility of parole.

Putnam was arrested in June 2007 after Jordan Putnam died from a multitude of injuries, including ruptured blood vessels that caused him to lose about half his blood to internal bleeding. An autopsy showed dozens of bruises, a cracked skull and evidence of strangulation.

At a hearing in June, prosecutors asked Hansen to give Putnam life without parole, but the defense attorneys, backed by Putnam's wife, mother, sisters and friends, asked that parole be a possibility, though not a guarantee.

"This is a very difficult decision to make," Hansen said.

In handing down his sentence, Hansen cited the support of Putnam's family, including Mary Putnam, the defendant's wife and the victim's mother. Many of Putnam's relatives wept as he was led out of the courtroom on Tuesday after his sentencing.

Putnam's relatives and friends acknowledged at a hearing in June that he must spend a long time in prison to pay for his crime, but they also urged Hansen to leave Putnam the possibility of being released one day. Mary said she planned to stay together as a family with her husband.

Just because Putnam is eligible for parole one day, that does not mean his eventual release is guaranteed. At the hearing in June, Jim Hatch, a hearing officer with the state board of parole, said that only 25 percent of aggravated murder convicts who are eligible for parole are ever actually released. Those who are eventually released on parole serve an average of 28.4 years, Hatch testified. Hansen cited Hatch's testimony as a factor in his sentencing decision.

Hansen said that Putnam had taken responsibility for his actions and shown remorse for the death of his 20-month-old son. Though Putnam killed his son through intentional acts of violence, he never intended to kill Jordan, according to a pre-sentencing report from Adult Probation and Parole that recommended the possibility of parole for Putnam.

"He was in a position of trust and he clearly violated that trust," Hansen said.

Tom Means, one of Putnam's public defenders, said that the board of parole will consider everything in Putnam's court file when it eventually decides whether to release him one day. The APP report said that if parole were granted in the future, it would likely be "well after 20 years" of incarceration.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it