Brooklyn Park Man Pleads Guilty, Sentenced In Infant Son's Beating Death
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 24-year-old Brooklyn Park man has pleaded guilty to beating his infant son to death for making noise and crying, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced Friday.
After spending 400 days in Hennepin County Jail, Reggie Harper took the deal offered by the attorney's office and pled guilty to second-degree intentional murder – 10 days before his trial was set to begin. In exchange, a first-degree murder charge was dropped by prosecutors.
On Dec. 9, 2014, the victim, almost 2, was fussing and crying in his crib. When his mother picked him up to settle him down, according to the criminal complaint, Harper grabbed the boy, put him on the floor and punched him repeatedly in the chest.
After paramedics performed CPR on the 23-month-old, he was taken to North Memorial Medical Center, where he later died.
The boy's cause of death was listed as multiple blunt force injuries.
Harper was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
