Brooklyn Center Woman Who Killed Baby Sentenced to 20-plus Years
A Brooklyn Center woman who was found guilty of killing a baby in her care was sentenced to more than 2o years in prison Monday.
A jury found Jennifer Baldwin, 38, guilty in June on two counts of unintentional second-degree murder. Baldwin admitted to handling her friend’s nine-month-old boy aggressively on March 15, 2018. The infant, Colton Senogles, died in the hospital five days later.
Baldwin, who is a mother of four, did not speak at sentencing. The punishment of 21 1/4 years in prison handed down by Hennepin County District Court Judge Jamie Anderson is a significant upward departure from Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines. Judge Anderson made the decision based on the jury’s findings of aggravating circumstances, including the boy’s age of nine months made him vulnerable.
With credit for time already served since her arrest, Baldwin will serve roughly the first 14 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Prosecutors asked for 30 years in prison, noting that the baby died of a “catastrophic head injury.” Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey also added that Baldwin called other people, including Colton’s mother, before finally calling 911.
Baldwin’s attorney argued that the sentencing guidelines’ presumptive sentence of 12 1/2 months in prison would be a fair outcome because she is the mother of four children.
“It’s no question it is tragic for your children to grow up without their mother,” Judge Anderson said Monday in Court. “But you were found guilty of two counts of murder and that changes everything.”
Victim Impact Statements
Logan Senogles and four other relatives gave victim impact statements Monday. He detailed how his life, and the life of his girlfriend, Caitlin, Colton’s mother, have spiraled downward.
“She murdered my family that day,” Senogles said of Baldwin. “Not just Colton but Caitlin and me. Colton just got the blunt end of it.”
He said the couple had a full house with Colton and two dogs and he was saving up to buy a house for them and then ask Caitlin to marry him.
“I now live all by myself and the days are a blur,” Senogles said. “I have nothing I want to work for and I have turned into someone no one wants to be around. I want her to do the maximum time allowed.”
