An Ohio father will spend at least five years behind bars for the death of his three-year-old daughter, who was brutally mauled by his pit bull terriers. 

Warren Houston was sentenced on Friday to serve five to seven-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and endangering children in the December 27, 2024 death of Kingsley Wright, according to WKRC.

Once released, he will serve two to five years of probation, Fox 19 reports. 

The three-year-old girl had been visiting with her father for Christmas and was asleep on the living room couch while his two dogs were left in a single cage with a broken latch nearby.

When they broke out and attacked her in the middle of the night, Houston and his then-girlfriend were asleep in the bedroom, with the door closed.

They then did not hear Kingsley as she cried out during the nearly half-hour long mauling.

When Houston later woke up, he discovered blood all over his living room – and Kingsley already dead on the ground. 

‘My baby is dead,’ he told a police dispatcher that morning. ‘This has got to be a f***ing nightmare.’

Warren Houston was sentenced on Friday to serve five to seven and a half years in prison

A judge found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter, reckless homicide and endangering children in the December 27, 2024 death of his three-year-old daughter Kingsley Wright

A coroner later ruled that Kingsley died of a dislocated neck and blood loss. 

During his bench trial, in which a judge decides a verdict rather than a jury, Houston told detectives he took a shot of alcohol and smoked some marijuana that night, WHIO reports. 

Investigators have since argued Houston knew that at least one of the dogs was dangerous – a claim Houston denies – and Judge Virginia Tallant agreed there was a ‘known risk’ that the cage was inadequate.

She also criticized Houston for failing to check on his daughter. 

‘This was not a momentary lapse in judgment, sir, it was not,’ the judge said at sentencing. ‘The reckless conditions identified by the court existed over a period of time and culminated in a death that cannot be reversed.’

‘The harm that was caused in this case… is catastrophic and irreversible,’ Tallant added.

The sentiment was echoed by Kingsley’s mother, Gina Smith.

‘Kingsley was abruptly and violently taken away due to Warren Houston’s recklessness, carelessness and glaring indifference toward Kingsley’s safety and wellbeing,’ she said in a statement read by Assistant Prosecutor Elyse Deters at the sentencing.

‘Every morning is the beginning of a new nightmare for me,’ the statement continued. ‘I see no light at the end of my dark and seemingly infinite tunnel. All I see now is a meaningless existence, without purpose, where there was once purpose – Kingsley.’

The young girl’s mother said in a statement at sentencing that she feels like she is living through a nightmare every day

She has previously said she would not have let her daughter stay with Houston if she had known that his pit bulls were dangerous

The dogs were kept in a crate with a broken latch in the same room where Kingsley was left sleeping on the couch

Smith has previously said Kingsley was staying with her father ‘for the first time ever’ that night, after he had recently discovered that she was his daughter.

She said leaving Kingsley at the home where she was mauled ‘was the last time that I got to say goodbye to my baby.’

‘I told her I loved her, and I would see her in a few days,’ Smith added.   

The night before Kingsley’s death, Smith said she spoke to her baby girl on FaceTime.

The next morning, she said she received a message from the girl’s older sister – informing her that she needed to call because it was about her daughter.

That is when she was told that Kingsley had died and that the girl’s father had been taken by police for questioning. 

At the time, the coroner wouldn’t let Smith see her daughter after the attack due to how graphic her injuries were. 

Judge Virginia Tallant criticized Houston for failing to check on his daughter 

Houston broke down in tears in court, as his lawyer noted that he, too, lost a daughter that night

If she had known that the dogs were violent, Smith said, she never would have left her daughter at Houston’s apartment.

But Houston’s attorney claimed that Houston was very cooperative with the investigation and noted that he, too, lost a daughter that night, WLWT reports.

He called the attack a tragic accident, claiming the dogs had no violent history and that his client did not act recklessly.

The attorney also indicated he will appeal the decision.

Meanwhile, a civil suit is pending.