Joe Rickey Hundley, the former aerospace executive accused of slapping a black child on the face, was sentenced to be imprisoned for 8 months. The judgement came on Monday while Mr Hundley's lawyer blamed his uncalled-for behaviour on alcoholism.

A former aerospace executive who slapped a crying toddler on an airplane and used a racial slur against the child, who is black, received an eight-month prison sentence on Monday for an incident his attorney blamed on his alcoholism.

Mr Hundley was accused of slapping the 19-month old crying baby under the right eye and using racist comment against the baby. The incident took place in Feb 2013 while Mr Hundley was traveling on a Delta Air Lines flight to Atlanta from Minneapolis. Mr Hundley apologised to the mother of the child for his behaviour in court. He pleaded guilty to the charge of misdemeanour in Oct.

Even though prosecutors recommended for a 6-month imprisonment, the federal judge was not obliged to listen to the recommendations. The possible penalisation for misbehaviour included $100,000 fine and imprisonment of up to one year. The judge decided to give Mr Hundley a stricter punishment.

According to Mr Hundley's attorney, Mr Hundley was emotionally unstable as he was going to Atlanta to remove the life support of his own dying son who became critical due to insulin overdose. Mr Hundley's misbehaviour on the flight was also due to alcoholism, she added. The mother of the child also complained earlier that Mr Hundley did seem intoxicated as he behaved aggressively. He slapped the child as it started crying when the flight landed.

Mr Hundley's attorney informed that Mr Hundley lost his job at AGC Aerospace & Defense after he had gotten involved in the slapping. He used to hold an executive position in the company but the criminal offence took it all from him.