Sentencing was delayed until next week for a Vicksburg father who has pleaded guilty to shaking his infant son to death after his defense attorneys moved to enter evidence on his behalf.

Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick moved sentencing for Jamaro South, 25, to Thursday and will hear testimony at 10 a.m. Monday in the sentencing.

“I wasn’t aware of this until this morning, but he has the right to put on evidence,” Patrick said of the delay.

South took an open plea — meaning there was no recommendation by prosecutors — to second-degree murder March 19 in the shaking death of his son, Jamaro Carter Jr. After the plea, South was immediately returned to prison where he is serving a 10-year sentence for a probation violation, his attorney Chris Green said.

“Mr. South was transported back to the facility where he was being housed so we did not have the opportunity to talk to him,” Green said. “Potentially we want to put on testimony from the mother of the victim.”

South appeared in court Friday wearing a yellow Mississippi Department of Corrections jumpsuit and Patrick released him back into MDOC custody after the short hearing. South made no statements during his court appearance.

District Attorney Ricky Smith made no objection to delaying the sentencing.

The father was alone with the 6-month old, on Dec. 14, 2013, when the boy was injured and later died of head injuries, police and prosecutors have said.

South initially confessed to shaking the 6-month old because the baby wouldn’t stop crying, but later recanted the confession, according to testimony given by police investigators Lt. Troy Kimble and Bobby Jones at a probable cause hearing in July.

During that hearing, Green contended the infant could have been injured before he was with South.

South is not trained in CPR, and could have injured his son while incorrectly trying to perform the life-saving act, Green said.