Man gets 95 years in fatal beating

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A Fort Wayne man convicted of murder for bludgeoning another man to death with a baseball bat has been sentenced to 95 years in prison.

An Allen Superior Court judge sentenced Manuel Joseph Silva on Monday to the maximum of 65 years for murder before adding another 30 years for Silva's history as a habitual offender.

The Journal Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/I0e44p ) a jury convicted 46-year-old Silva last month in the May 2011 killing of Christopher Robert Deaton, who was beaten four or five times in the head with a bat.

The 39-year-old Deaton was deaf and couldn't speak. He was attacked from behind while he and his friends watched basketball in his home.

Deaton's mother, Teresa Tinsley, urged the judge before the sentencing to "put this monster away forever."