The Troy man convicted in the death of his infant son has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Britt Godshalk has the details from outside Rensselaer County Court.

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Hicks' husband, Adrian Thomas was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after a jury convicted him last month of second-degree murder for the death of their 4-month-old son.

Thomas, showing little emotion, told the court that he's wrongly accused.

"I'm innocent," Thomas said. "I love my son, my family, and my wife."

His public defender argues that the child died of overwhelming infection, and even prosecutors admitted that jurors struggled with hours of complex medical testimony over three days of deliberations. The defense will also appeal on grounds that a nine-hour taped confession played for the jury was coerced.

Public defender Ingrid Effman said, "The statement should not have been submitted. Our position is that should not have been submitted to a jury in this case based on the lack of my client's ability to wave his rights."

The defense argues the judge should have allowed an expert in false confessions to testify, which under current law is under the judge's discretion.

"He would've been assistance," said Effman. "And that is the ground for the appeal in this case."

Also at issue, the defense alleges the jury took down the law verbatim during trial. That is unlawful because doing so may lead the jury to give undue weight to one portion of the law over another. Within minutes of the verdict, the notes the jury took in trial were impounded by the defense.

Effman said, "Jurors took verbatim notes, we believe, of the court's actual law so that's an issue that the court of appeals or Appellate Division will have to determine whether or not that was appropriate or not."

It would be the first time that specific issue would be taken up in appellate court.

"We do not feel that there are appealable issues that are going to overturn this case," said prosecutor Christa Book. "We're confident this case will hold up on appeal."

The six remaining children in the family have been reunited with their mother. An order of protection granted in court on Thursday forbids Thomas from contacting them for the rest of his life.