A former Battle Creek man was sentenced Monday to 31 days already served in the carbon monoxide death of an 11-year-old girl.

Harold Ward, 46, of Marine City, had faced up to 15 years in prison in the March 3, 2017, death of his girlfriend's daughter, Chloe Stevens.

Stevens died after she and Ward and the child's mother, Sandee Confer, formerly of Port Huron, were found unconscious in a commercial building at 784 W. Michigan Ave. in Springfield, where they were living.

Calhoun County Sheriff Department detectives said the building, where Ward had an upholstery business, did not have electric service and Ward was running a gas-powered generator inside the building to power a kerosene heater. He had fashioned a small apartment in the back of the building.

All three were overcome with carbon monoxide and critically injured.

Ward was charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree child abuse but on Sept. 27, in an agreement with prosecutors, he entered a no contest plea to child abuse in the fourth-degree with a sentence agreement of his 31 days already served in jail.

"When he was originally charged it seemed clear that what he did was dangerous and grossly negligent," Prosecutor David Gilbert said Monday afternoon. "He was not aware it was grossly negligent, no matter how aware we are.

"It might explain why we do commercials about not doing things like this.

"When he was charged, the thinking was that a reasonable person might not have done something like that because it could quite possibly kill everyone," Gilbert said. "In the end it turned out he may not have known it would be the result and that is the reason for the plea bargain. Based on the initial evaluation, everyone should know it is dangerous but not everyone does know that."

Ward did not speak at the sentencing but his attorney, John Vincent said, "the family has gone through more than enough with this terrible tragedy."

Vincent had said at an earlier hearing last year that Ward had borrowed the generator and hadn't operated it before.

"If he knew what he was doing he would not have put himself at risk and everyone else," Vincent said then.

"This is sad," Circuit Judge John Hallacy said. "There is nothing this court can do that will bring her back for anybody. It is a shame that it happened.

"But the criminal culpability and nature and severity of that culpability and the sentence the court could impose, I believe that the agreement is appropriate given your background and mental health history and limitations. Along with what happened in this particular case, there is nothing the court could do that would serve justice in this matter."

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Contract Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter:@TSChristenson