BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — In court Wednesday, Phillip Gardner was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the second-degree murder of 2-year-old Nevaeh Allen.

He also received 40 years of hard labor for obstruction of justice, with credit for time served.

Gardner, 34, who was convicted in May 2025, had filed a motion for a new trial earlier this year. His attorneys argued there was no evidence directly linking him to Allen's fatal injuries and requested that his life sentence be reconsidered. However, prosecutors maintained that Gardner’s failure to seek help for the child supported his conviction. A judge ultimately denied the motion and upheld his original sentence.

Gardner was the boyfriend of Nevaeh’s mother, Lanaya Cardwell, 28. Authorities said

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