EVANSVILLE — A Vanderburgh County judge sentenced an Evansville man to serve a 10-year sentence in connection with the 2023 death of his newborn son, court records show.
The man, 24-year-old Jacob Samuel Washington, pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony, May 27 less than a week before he was scheduled to stand trial.
During a hearing Wednesday, Magistrate Judge Joshua Orem sentenced Washington to serve five years in a state prison followed by a five-year stint in a community corrections program, the judge’s sentencing order states.
Washington will receive credit for time served while awaiting trial, according to the order. A Courier & Press reporter called a number listed for Orem’s office to inquire about two different time-served figures cited in the order, but a Circuit Court official said all media inquiries must be submitted in writing.
Washington’s conviction and sentencing comes more than two years after Evansville police and paramedics found Washington’s 2-week-old son unresponsive inside his family’s Washington Avenue home the evening of Feb. 8, 2023.
Despite rendering aid to the newborn for more than an hour, emergency medical personnel pronounced the boy dead at the scene.
From the start, investigators said Washington’s account of what preceded his son’s death didn’t add up. Neither did statements given to detectives by the boy’s mother, Denaya Harris, police allege.
During initial interviews, Washington and Harris both said their son’s breathing had worsened in early February and that he struggled with feedings, sworn affidavits filed by the Evansville Police Department state.
Harris reported that because the boy had stopped nursing or taking a bottle, she resorted to feeding him with an oral syringe. Washington pointed to a troublesome feeding when he gave an account of what happened Feb. 8, 2023, in the moments before first responders arrived at his family’s home, telling detectives his son “became unresponsive after taking a few gulps” of food.
But according to investigators, the autopsy performed by the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office on Feb. 10, 2023, revealed that Washington and Harris had left much unsaid about their son’s medical history during their initial police interviews.
The coroner’s office listed the boy’s cause of death as “abusive head trauma,” Det. Paul Klein wrote in a sworn affidavit. Blood had pooled around the boy’s brain, the autopsy showed, and he appeared to have suffered other unexplained-but-serious injuries.
A skeletal scan showed “numerous fractures” to the boy’s collarbone, ribs and arm, according to Klein. The coroner’s office also identified a “possible fracture” in the upper part of the boy’s leg.
The extent of the injuries prompted detectives to call Washington and Harris in for additional questioning on Feb. 13, 2023. At first, both parents said they could not recall any “falls or accidents” involving their son prior to his death.
In affidavits authored to support Washington and Harris’ subsequent arrests, detectives wrote that their stories changed once they were confronted with the litany of injuries identified during their son’s autopsy.
Washington told detectives that about one week prior to his son’s death, the boy fell out of a baby rocker and landed on the floor. The boy did not cry and “appeared to be fine,” Washington reportedly said — at least at first.
“Jacob [Washington] said that he noticed changes in the victim’s breathing after this incident,” Klein wrote in the affidavit. “I asked Jacob if he had sought treatment for the victim after this, and he said that he did not.”
Harris corroborated Washington’s account of the incident, though she said her son cried after he fell out of the rocker until Washington “calmed him down,” according to Klein.
Washington also revealed a second incident that occurred hours before paramedics were called to the family’s residence on Feb. 8, 2023. Washington told detectives the boy “suddenly went unresponsive” around 10 a.m. that day while he and Harris played with their son on their bed.
“(Washington) said that he could feel the victim’s heart beating, but he had stopped breathing,” Klein wrote. “(Washington) said that he gave chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the victim for about three minutes. He later said that this was only about thirty seconds.”
Washington said his son began to breath again, but that neither he nor Harris dialed 911 or sought medical treatment.
According to detectives, Harris confirmed Washington’s account of the Feb. 8, 2023, incident and maintained that she did not seek medical attention for her son because he “recovered” quickly.
Paramedics were not called to render aid to the boy until approximately 9:54 p.m. that night, by which point Washington’s and Harris’ son had become unresponsive a second time. He would never regain consiousness.
Both parents were booked at the Vanderburgh County jail Feb. 13, 2023, on charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
According to court records, Harris had been scheduled to stand trial June 30, but she pleaded guilty three days before jury selection was slated to begin.
In Washington’s case, the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office recommended a 10-year sentence, but Harris’ agreement states that “the court shall determine the placement and duration” of her punishment.
Level 1 felonies, such as neglect of a dependent resulting in death, carry an advisory sentence of 30 years.
The lack of a recommendation by prosecutors for a reduced sentence likely traces to a Dec. 23, 2023, incident that would culminate in Harris facing additional charges of battery against a law enforcement officer, resisting law enforcement and escape.
According to court records, Harris allegedly snuck out of a housing unit at the Vanderburgh County jail and into a visitation room while she was in custody awaiting trial.
When a confinement officer located Harris, they found her to have “a blank stare as she was talking to herself in tongues,” the officer wrote in a sworn affidavit. Harris allegedly fought with officers as they attempted to gain control of her.
In exchange for pleading guilty to the neglect charge, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the three counts Harris faced for the incident at the jail, court records state.
Harris is scheduled to be sentenced in Circuit Court July 24.
Houston Harwood can be reached at houston.harwood@courierpress.com.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville father sentenced for son’s 2023 neglect-related death
Reporting by Houston Harwood, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
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