Man pleads guilty in toddler’s death
Published 8:30 am Tuesday, March 8, 2011
LA CROSSE, Wis. — A mother’s boyfriend has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 2-year-old La Crosse area girl.
Thirty-year-old Justin Lake of Cannon Falls, Minn., was caring for Jazmyn Weiker-Hanson at his home when she died in July 2009. Lake claimed the toddler hit her head while jumping on the bed. He later added that he had been swinging the girl by her ankles and dropped her when she hit her head on a door.
The La Crosse Tribune reports the child died of head injuries. Lake faces 10 years in prison when he sentenced April 15 in Goodhue County District Court.