The child was only one month, and 26 days old when the infant died.
Jesse Cook (Photo from Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office)
Frederick, Md (KM) A Frederick man is going to prison for a long time. In Circuit Court on Wednesday, Jesse Cook, 45. was sentenced to life plus 30 years for 1st-degree child abuse resulting in the death of an infant boy, along with two counts of 2nd-degree child abuse. Cook was convicted of those charges on September 14th, 2023. He was the father of the baby boy.
The State’s Attorney’s Office says the Sheriff’s Office responded to calls for an infant in cardiac arrest on June 17th, 2020 at a home at 5305 Kingsbrook Drive in Frederick. The child was taken to Frederick Health Hospital where he was pronounced dead one hour later..
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the infant’s death a homicide. due to blunt force trauma. Witnesses told investigators that Cook had been “rough” with the child during the infant’s short life. The baby boy was one month and 26 days old when he died.
“There are the cases that keep you up at night realizing what some people are capable of,” says State’s Attorney Charlie Smith, in a statement. “It is truly heartbreaking to think that an infant enduring this kind of repeated abuse and trauma. Now Jesse Cook will have to endure prison for the rest of his life, where he will no longer be a threat to any child,”
During sentencing, the victim’s mother addressed the Court in her victim impact statement. “Jesse Cook took away my sunshine and my life; my will to live. I ask for full justice for my son.”
Judge J. Barry Hughes pronounced sentence for cook. “Public safety requires this sentencing to protect the public from the Defendant’s depravity and future felonious conduct,” he said,.
This investigation which led to Cook’s conviction and sentence was a collaborative effort by the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
By Kevin McManus