An Alabama judge sentenced a convicted sex offender to 25 years and his girlfriend to 20 years in the beating and scalding death of a toddler, saying they chose drugs over the need to help the child.

Alabama Circuit Judge Gloria Bahakel deplored the behavior of Michael Kevin Myers, 30, and Barbara Kristin Reid, 25, at their sentencing Monday in the death of Reid's 2-year-old daughter, Victoria "Tori" Monette, in November 2003.

Meyers told Bahakel they had consumed a drug the morning the child was scalded in a 5:30 a.m. bath at her Center Point town house. The child also suffered head injuries, but Myers said he did not know how that happened.

Alabama authorities also said the two waited hours before calling for help, when quicker action might have saved the child's life.

Myers' story conflicted with Reid's testimony from her May trial, where she said she took methadone, a synthetic narcotic used to treat addiction, three days before her daughter was hurt but denied taking it the day she was scalded.

Bahakel said it was one of the "saddest things I've seen in my life."

She sentenced Myers, a convicted sex offender from Arizona, to 25 years for reckless manslaughter and 20 years for failing to register as a sex offender in Jefferson County. The sentences will run concurrently. Bahakel sentenced Reid, 25, to the maximum 20 years for reckless manslaughter.

Authorities said Myers pleaded guilty in Arizona when he was 18 to two counts of attempted sexual contact with a teenage girl who was a minor.