A 25-year-old dad who pleaded guilty to shaking and killing his crying 2-month-old son in New London last year will spend 14 years behind bars.
Adam Browne was sentenced in court Thursday to 20 years in prison. His sentence will be suspended after Browne serves 14 years. He will spend the following five years on probation, according to the court clerk.
Browne pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in October under the Alford doctrine, meaning he did not agree with all the allegations but didn't want to risk a harsher sentence if convicted at trial. He initially pleaded not guilty.
According to police, Browne was watching his son Jovanni at home in New London on Oct. 25, 2013 when he shook the baby, who wouldn't stop crying. Jovanni suffered a serious brain injury and died the next day.
Jovanni's mother and Browne's girlfriend at the time, Margaret Chapman, said her 4-year-old twins are struggling to come to grips with their brother's death.
In a written statement read in court Thursday, Chapman said she lost her job after Jovanni's death and moved from the family home because her twins were scared to go back.
"I am Jovanni's mother and I have no choice but to go on without him, having to wonder how amazing he would be, what he would like like," she read, according to a clerk who was present for the sentencing. "The chance to hold him was taken from me."
