A father who intentionally dropped his crying 5-month-old son head-first on the ground pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced Friday, May 7, to spend more than six years in jail.
Matthew Hoisser was arrested in August 2019, three months after his infant son died at their Woodbury home in the US state of Minnesota. He was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
According to a criminal complaint, Hoisser told authorities he was caring for his son and had trouble getting him to sleep on the evening of April 24, last year.
The infant "was crying and fussy and was being 'difficult,' " the complaint states. "At one point, (Hoisser) was so frustrated he intentionally dropped the infant head first into the ground … intentionally causing him to fall to the ground and strike his head on the floor stunning (the baby) and causing him to continue to cry."
The next morning, the baby’s mother noticed her son was "whining and whimpering". She took the child to his home child care provider and told them the baby was "fussier than usual," the complaint states.
The child care provider managed to put the baby down for a nap. When she went to check on him later, she found him "awake and fussy," according to the complaint.
However, after a while, when the provider went to change his diaper, she noticed the baby was "limp and quiet".
She called 911 to report the incident and began performing life-saving measures on the baby. Emergency services rushed the boy to a children’s hospital. The infant died five days later.
Medical examiners determined the cause of death to be blunt-force trauma. According to the doctors, the boy suffered a serious head injury which even if he had survived would have left him permanently blind, deaf, and paralyzed.
The medical examiner discovered two head injuries, one "occurred prior to the most recent injury … likely within a week or two of the infant’s hospitalization," the complaint states.
"Then we had a skull fracture that coincides with the injury that led to his death," Washington County prosecutor Siv Yurichuk told the court.
On Friday, Hoisser appeared at the court, weeks after his family and friends submitted 29 pages of support asking leniency for the 37-year-old.
Hoisser’s wife, Nicole, wrote that in the 13 years she has known him "he has proven to be a caring, gentle, patient, and law-abiding individual."
Yurichuk opposed the leniency appeal telling the court the case is not about Hoisser, but his son.
"Counsel talks about mercy and compassion for the defendant," Yurichuk said, "but the state’s question is, where’s the mercy and compassion for this child?"
During the plea deal hearing on Friday, Hoisser’s attorney, John Leunig, told the court that Hoisser has expressed his remorse by pleading guilty to the manslaughter. Hoisser has taken responsibility for his actions and "knows he’s going to have to suffer with it for the rest of his life," Leunig said.
The prosecutor backlashed the attorney’s "remorse" statement.
"Remorse isn’t, 'I’m caught. I’m looking at prison, so I’m now going to say, ‘I’m sorry and I did it,'" Yurichuk said. "Remorse is when you do something wrong and you have the integrity to say to yourself, ‘Wow, I really screwed up. I’m sorry’ … without having to get caught first. That’s the type of remorse that is compelling and substantial."
The judge asked Hoisser if he wanted to say something to the court before hearing the judgment.
"I’d like to say that regardless of the decision that is rendered in the court today," Hoisser said, "it won’t compare to the life sentence that I’ve given to myself and my family."
Washington County District Judge Richard C. Ilkka denied the defense motion and sentenced Hoisser to spend 74 months in prison, a little more than six years.
"Ultimately, when I consider the facts of this case, my determination is that not following the guidelines would unduly depreciate the severity of this offense," Ilkka said during the sentencing.
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