Prosecutors seeking death penalty against Peters Township father accused of killing infant
PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - The Washington County district attorney is seeking the death penalty against a Peters Township father accused of killing his infant son.
District Attorney Jason Walsh announced Monday that a notice of aggravated facts was filed against Jordan Clarke in the death of Sawyer Clarke.
Peters Township police responded to Jordan Clarke's home on Pleasantview Drive in Peters Township on May 23 for a report of a baby who wasn't breathing, the criminal complaint said.
When officers arrived Clarke told them he had caught his foot on a plastic grocery bag while trying to make a bottle and fell with the 11-week-old child in his arms, investigators said.
The infant was rushed to UPMC Children's Hospital but died from his injuries the next day. The doctor told investigators the baby's injuries were "gravely concerning for physical abuse." Court paperwork said the baby suffered injuries to both sides of his brain, hemorrhages in both his eyes and possible fractures in both legs.
Clarke was charged with homicide, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
In his 10 months as district attorney, Walsh has sought the death penalty against eight other people. Clarke's case is the fifth involving the death of an infant.
"I will seek the highest form of punishment under the law when the facts fit under the law that is prescribed by the legislature and if you kill a child, under these types of circumstances, I will seek the highest form of punishment allowable by law," Walsh said.
In Pennsylvania, there have been only three death penalty executions since 1976, none of which have happened in this century.
