Shawn Martin (Allegheny County Jail).
A Pennsylvania man will be spending substantial time behind bars for violently killing his newborn son.
Earlier this week, Shawn Martin, 32, pleaded no contest to one count each of third-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child for the 2023 death of 5-day-old Jah'Shawn Martin.
In quick fashion, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Eliot Howsie sentenced the defendant to at least 11 years and as many as 28 years in state prison under the terms of a plea deal.
Pennsylvania is one of only three jurisdictions in the entire country that still has the crime of third-degree murder on the books. The maximum sentence in the Keystone State is 40 years in prison.
The judge harshly upbraided Martin during the sentencing hearing, according to a courtroom report by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"Arguably, you should be facing the death penalty for this conduct," Howsie said. "I'm not a supporter of the death penalty…but I can see how someone could argue for it in this case. This is one of the worst cases I've dealt with, as an attorney or as a judge."
The underlying incident occurred in December 2023 at a residence on Mount Pleasant Road in Pittsburgh.
At the time, the child was alone with his father while the mother was in the hospital recovering from a blood infection, according to law enforcement sources cited by Pittsburgh-based NBC affiliate WPXI.
Officers were called to the residence on the day in question around 11:35 p.m. Martin, for his part, initially told police he fell asleep and when he woke up, the baby was unresponsive; he also said he did not know what happened.
The infant was rushed to UPMC Children's Hospital and arrived in critical condition. He was later pronounced dead.
The medical examiner's office noted the child suffered from severe trauma and had died from several blows to the back of his head.
The father would go on to admit that someone had killed the child but was at first adamant that he was not the person responsible, according to law enforcement.
"Mr. Martin said he was just as confused as detectives," the criminal complaint in the case reads.
Investigators noted that the only person in the residence at the time was the infant's 2-year-old brother.
"Somebody's lying, and it definitely isn't my 2-year-old grandbaby," the victim's grandmother told WPXI. "He can't explain that. He doesn't know. And it's not going to be put on him. Everybody needs to tell the truth. He's the reason why our son's dead. He knew. There's nothing else to say."
During the sentencing hearing, prosecutors, citing medical staff at the children's hospital, revealed the boy's skull was shattered.
A prosecutor said the forensic pathologist who examined Jah'Shawn's body said "she has never seen an infant with injuries this severe" and likened the damage to someone falling 20 or 30 stories.
The boy's mother provided the lone victim statement in court.
"I don't know what to say – I didn't expect this to happen," she said through tears. "I told him: 'Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't do nothing.' My life is in shambles. It's hard for me and I'm disappointed. I'm just so disappointed."
In the end, the mother only spent 12 hours with her child after giving birth — before she was back in the hospital to deal with the infection.
"I saw his little smile," she told the TV station. "He loved laying on my chest. He would fall right to sleep."