Towamencin Man Sentenced 15 to 30 Years in Prison for Killing Infant Son

A Towamencin man will spend the foreseeable future in state prison, after pleading guilty to murder charges stemming from the death of his three-month-old son.

According to reports, Jameel East, 25, of the 400 block of Lantern Lane, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison by President Judge William J. Furber Jr. on Wednesday, following his guilty plea to third-degree murder and unsworn falsification to authorities during a hearing in January. He was initially facing a sentence of 21 to 42 years in prison.

East was originally charged with killing his son, Enzo East, in June 2011, after a caseworker with Montgomery County Children and Youth informed police that the infant had been transported to Lansdale Hospital after sustaining severe head trauma.

The infant was later airlifted to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. An autopsy revealed that Enzo had died from multiple skull fractures and blunt force trauma to the head.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, police initially interviewed East about his son's death June 25. At that time, East stated that Enzo had been "fussy" throughout the day, vomiting multiple times. 

After speaking to their family doctor, East then called a friend to transport the infant to the hospital. During the ride, East stated that Enzo stopped breathing, and his body went limp, according to court documents.

Detectives met with East a second time June 25, citing inconsistencies in the statement that he had previously given. During the second interview, court documents state that East changed his story, and that the infant had vomited onto his shorts, at which point he carried his son into a bathroom to bathe him.

East said he was "overwhelmed" as he entered the bathroom, and struck the infant's skull against the counter surface located between to the two sinks, which created a "loud bang," according to the affidavit.

Following Wednesday's sentencing hearing, Montgomery County prosecutor Samantha Cauffman stated that being a parent in itself is a challenge, and that no amount of stress can justify what was done to Enzo East.

“It doesn’t matter how stressed, how frustrated, how sick in this case that child is; it’s never an excuse to throw [an infant] against a wall like this man did, to bang his head against a sink,” said Cauffman, in a report by CBS3.

Defense attorneys attempted to secure a lesser sentence, stating that East wasn't a "bad" person, but that he lacked parenting skills and had a diminish intellectual capacity, according to reports. However, those attempts proved to be futile.