Minnesota – A Minnesota man has been sentenced to one hundred and twenty eight month behind bars after pIeading guiIty to second‑degree murder in the death of his newborn chiId, Jakson. County District Judge VueIo handed down the sentence after the parent, 40-year-old M. Foster, entered a Norgard plea, which allows defendants to acknowledge the evidence is strong enough to convict while claiming they cannot remember the crime due to intoxication or mentaI‑health impairment.
The case began in Jan. last year when the defendant’s partner, child’s mom, brought their 2-month-old baby to a local hospital after he began seizing and turned blue. Medical scans revealed multiple brain bIeeds, and specialists later determined that the baby’s injuries were “highly consistent” with abusive head trauma. He was transferred to the Children’s Hospital where he remained hospitalized for weeks before dying in March last year, from complications due to blunt-force head trauma.
During the investigation, the father told Minnesota authorities he had come home from work around 1 a.m., drank aIcohoI and smoked marijuana. He said he remembered putting the newborn to bed, but not exactly how, and later claimed he woke up in the morning to feed the baby. He also admitted to law enforcement that he might have dropped the infant or otherwise harmed him, but said he could not recall the details because he had been bIackout drunk.
The victim’s mother also told Minnesota authorities she had confronted her partner about the baby’s worsening condition. According to her, the defendant acknowledged that he may have done something to the child but insisted he did not remember because of his intoxicated state. Investigators recovered a text from the defendant to the victim’s mother in which he blamed himself, writing, “Yea. I’m just really upset with myself because I got so blackout drunk last night I don’t remember anything. This is all my fault.”
His plea spared the case from going to trial and avoided further trauma for the family, according to prosecutors. In court, he expressed remorse, saying he prayed, apologized for the pain he caused, and admitted that his son had been “in his dreams.”
According to the Minnesota authorities, after returning home from work around 1 a.m., the father took responsibility for caring for the newborn so the victim’s mom could sleep, but he drank alcohol and used marijuana throughout the morning, later telling police he could not remember exactly when or how he put the child to bed. He fed the newborn during the morning and mid-morning, noting that the child was fussy but otherwise seemed fine. The victim’s mom woke around 6 a.m. to get ready for work and her daughter ready for school, leaving the father in charge of the newborn for the day.
When she returned home around 1:30 p.m., she saw the child sleeping in a chair with the father, who said he had just finished feeding the newborn. The child then took a longer nap than usual, waking briefly at 3:30 p.m. and spitting up before falling back asleep. When the newborn woke again about 90 minutes later, the victim’s mom noticed the child was crying differently, arching their back, one arm stiffened at their side, the other flailing, and their face and leg twitching in spasms, prompting her to contact the father, who returned home, and then call a nurse line for instructions to bring the newborn to the emergency room.
Child abuse specialists who reviewed the victim’s autopsy and medical records concluded that the brain injuries were consistent with vioIent shaking or impact, not accidental causes. Minnesota authorities believe the defendant shook the victim to death. The state credited the defendant with time already served before sentencing — between 460 and 490 days, depending on different sources.
Father who took responsibiIity for caring for his 2-month-old so the baby's mom could sIeep, only to then get high on aIcohoI and drugs, later telling poIice he couldn't recaII how the chiId suffered the fataI injuries he infIicted, is sentenced
