ATLANTA, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A federal magistrate Monday sentenced an Idaho man to eight months in prison for slapping a young child on a jetliner.

The sentence U.S. Magistrate Alan Baverman meted out to Joe Rickey Hundley was stiffer than expected. Hundley had agreed to a six-month term in exchange for his guilty plea. But the magistrate tacked on two more months because Hundley had been on probation for driving under the influence and had an assault conviction in Virginia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.


Hundley slapped the crying toddler and used a racial slur to the 19-month-old child's mother, Jessica Bennett, during a flight to Atlanta last year.

The mother and child were seated in a seat next to Hundley, who was on his way to Atlanta to take his only child off life support after his son had overdosed on insulin, Hundley's attorney said in court documents.

Hundley was fired from his position as president of Unitech Composites and Structures after the incident.