A 39-year-old White Bear Lake man has been sentenced to 10 years and 8 months in prison for second-degree murder in the 2024 death of his 3-month-old son, according to court records filed Monday. He will receive credit for 490 days served and must spend at least two-thirds of his sentence behind bars. He pleaded guilty in October.
According to the criminal complaint, the infant was injured on Jan. 31, 2024, and died a month later. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was “complications of bilateral subdural hemorrhages.”
Child abuse specialists concluded the baby’s injuries were “highly consistent” with abusive head trauma. Medical providers told investigators the injuries were not natural and were “likely the result of outside force or trauma.”
Court documents say the father told a hospital physician he may have “dropped or done something” to the baby and admitted he was not “in his right state of mind” the night before. The child’s mother told police she worried he had been drinking too much.
The father later admitted he drank more than usual the morning the injuries occurred and had also smoked marijuana. The mother told investigators that when she confronted him, he acknowledged he “may have done something” but could not remember because he had been drinking.
According to investigators, the father expressed fear that he may have dropped or accidentally sat on the baby during a memory lapse brought on by intoxication.
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