No prison time. That's the word out of Norwich Superior Court in the case of the Jewett City couple arrested for negligence after their 2-year-old son shot and killed himself with his father’s handgun last summer.
Jason Matteau, 28, was accepted into the two-year accelerated rehabilitation program, and his criminal record will remain clean if he follows conditions of his probation during that time.
Rebecca Matteau, 25, received a suspended two-year sentence and two years probation.
Both faced charges of criminally negligent storage of a firearm and risk of injury to a child.
Last August, 2-year-old Wyatt Matteau picked up his father’s .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol from a bedside nightstand while his father slept and accidentally shot himself in the face.
In his letter to the sentencing judge, Jason Matteau wrote, “I experienced the worst thing that could ever happen to any parent. My only son, my best friend and my world at 2 1⁄2 years old was taken from this earth, and he was taken because of my negligence and with my weapon. I had to bury my own child, which is not supposed to happen.”
