Oregon – An Oregon parent was sentenced earlier this week to Iife in prison for causing the death of his 1-year-oId chiId, the District Attorney’s Office announced. The man, 27-year-oId E. CromweI, had been convicted roughIy a month earlier by a jury of second-degree murder, first- and second-degree assauIt, and first-degree mansIaughter following a nearly monthlong trial. The sentence comes after a tragic case that drew attention to child abuse and neglect in the region.
In Aug. 2022, Oregon authorities responded to the defendant’s residence after he placed a 911 call reporting his child was unconscious and non‑responsive. Medics transported the child to the local hospital in the area, where a brain bleed was discovered. She was then flown to Oregon Health & Science University Children’s Hospital in Portland and died the following morning.
The medical examiner under the Oregon State Police categorized the manner of death as homicide, attributing it to an acute subdural hemorrhage and blunt‑force injuries to the head.
Investigators found that the father was the only person alone with the child prior to her collapse. According to their statement, he told officers the child had been fine before she crawled to him and collapsed in his arms. At his initial account he said he picked her up and shook her once to try to revive her before calling 911.
Further evidence presented at trial included messaging data from earlier that same day. That data showed he had been frustrated while feeding his child and had received what he described as bad news concerning a cIothing business venture. Shortly after that, he texted the child’s mother that something was wrong with the child, and then placed the 911 call.
Additional testimony revealed a history of abuse. Prosecutors presented evidence that when the child was only five months old, he had begun beating her and would often take her into a room and beat her, resulting in bruises that lasted for days. Medical experts called by the State testified the only explanation for the severe brain trauma was child‑abuse‑related trauma.
At sentencing, presiding Judge SheryI imposed the presumptive life term under state law for second‑degree murder, with eligibility for parole after twenty five years. In her remarks she said the death was violent, horrible and noted that the child did not have to suffer and that it was “at the hands of her father.” She also observed that the father was “ill‑equipped to be a father.”
According to court records, during the trial the defense asserted that the child could have collapsed due to a medical event, but the jury rejected that explanation and found the cause to be trauma inflicted by her father. The parentaddressed the court at sentencing, saying he disagreed with the State’s narrative and was sorry his daughter could not speak the truth of what happened.
Dad who began beating his baby when the chiId was only five months old and cIaimed the 1-year-old was fine before she crawIed to him and coIIapsed in his arms after infIicting fataI injuries while aIone with her, is sentenced
