A Chicago man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison in connection with the 2013 death of his infant son in Waukegan.
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Andre Sharkey, 33, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, a Class 2 felony, in exchange for the 14-year sentence, the maximum allowed for the charge. Before accepting the plea deal, which was approved by Judge James Booras, Sharkey had faced first-degree murder.
The 9-week-old baby, Samuel Sharkey, was brought by his mother to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan on Nov. 16, 2013, with what police called “suspicious injuries.” Samuel died at the hospital.
Samuel, who lived with his mother on Dugdale Road in Waukegan, died of “trauma to the abdomen,” which police and prosecutors attributed to a blow from Andre Sharkey.
The mother was not charged with any involvement in the case.
Sharkey has been held in the Lake County Jail for more than a year and a half, and will be given credit for that time toward his sentence, Booras said when the plea was entered last week.
The plea deal was the result of negotiations between Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Tim Niehus and Sharkey’s defense attorneys, Kevin Malia and Eric Rinehart.
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