AUBURN – Todd Gamache plans to plead guilty to manslaughter in connection with the death of an 8-month-old he was baby-sitting.

The 24-year-old’s murder trial is scheduled for this spring.

Gamache’s attorney, David Van Dyke, reached an agreement with Deputy Attorney General William Stokes on the lesser charge, Van Dyke wrote to a court clerk. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 15 in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

Stokes and Van Dyke declined to discuss specifics of the agreement, saying only that the two sides have agreed to a sentencing cap.

That means both Stokes and Van Dyke can argue before Justice Thomas Delahanty II for any sentence up to the number of years set by the prosecutor.

Manslaughter is punishable by up to 30 years.

Van Dyke said he would be arguing for a split sentence, meaning a portion of the sentence would be served on probation.

Delahanty is responsible for setting Gamache’s sentence after considering arguments from both sides and reviewing a presentencing investigative report requested by both sides. That report would include Gamache’s background, including his social life, education and work history as well as a criminal background check.

Gamache has remained at Androscoggin County Jail pending his trial. Van Dyke asked that, following his client’s guilty plea, Delahanty consider setting bail until Gamache’s sentencing date.

Emmy-Leigh Cole was rushed to the emergency room with severe injuries on March 22 from her home in Auburn. She died in a hospital two days later after life support was removed.

Gamache was alone with his girlfriend’s baby for about 45 minutes at her Broad Street home that night while Libby St. Pierre was at cheerleading practice. He had moved into her home three months earlier.

Gamache has maintained that Cole’s death was a “tragic accident.”

A Maine State Police detective testified during an earlier court hearing that Gamache had changed his story several times in succeeding interviews with police.

In his final version of events he said he dropped the baby in a slippery bathtub and again, later, on the living room floor.

A doctor specializing in child abuse told police Cole’s injuries were not consistent with any versions of Gamache’s story.