Parents convicted of negligent homicide after 83-day-old baby dies sleeping face-down

A couple charged with causing the death of their 83-day-old son by placing him face-down to sleep have each received prison sentences on appeal.

The Incheon District Court's Criminal Appeals Division 5-1, presided over by Chief Judge Son Won-rak, upheld the original sentence Wednesday, handing the wife, identified only as A, in her 20s, a suspended sentence of one year and six months with a two-year probationary period on charges including negligent homicide.

Her husband, identified as B, in his 30s, also received the same sentence as in the original ruling — eight months of imprisonment with a one-year suspended term on the same charges.

An imprisonment sentence, unlike a standard prison sentence, involves confinement without compulsory labor.

The appeals court dismissed both sides' appeals, saying the original sentencing was appropriate. "Both the defendants and the prosecution appealed on grounds of improper sentencing," the court said. "We find the lower court's sentencing to be appropriate and therefore reject these arguments."

The couple were indicted without detention after their second son, C, died on Sept. 15, 2024 — during the Chuseok holiday — after being placed face-down to sleep at their home in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, at 83 days old.

C had been lying face-down in his crib for three hours while the couple napped alongside him.

When B woke up, he called emergency services, saying the baby was not breathing. C was transported to a hospital by paramedics in cardiac arrest but ultimately died.

Prosecutors determined that the couple had neglected C, causing his death from hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, and applied charges of negligent homicide.

Two months before C's death, the couple had also been booked on child abuse charges after allegedly dropping him on the floor, fracturing his skull.

The wife, A, also faces separate charges of physically abusing and injuring another child between October and November 2023.