A man who is in prison for severely abusing his infant son in Balsam Lake, Wis., five years ago has been charged with homicide in the child’s death.
Kenneth W. Larson, 30, was convicted in 2008 of causing severe injuries to his infant boy, including damage to his brain. The child died on Nov. 11, 2011, the result of complications from the brain injury, and a medical examiner determined the death could be classified as a homicide.
Larson was charged Thursday, Sept. 6, in Polk County Circuit Court with first-degree reckless homicide. He pleaded guilty in April 2008 to child abuse recklessly causing great bodily harm and is currently serving a five-year prison sentence in the Oshkosh Correctional Institution in Oshkosh, Wis., according to court records.
According to the criminal complaint:
On Sept. 23, 2007, the child’s mother, Kelli K. Larson, took the 1-month-old boy to the St. Croix Regional Medical Center Emergency Room in St. Croix Falls, Wis. She told police the child had a fever and a shoulder injury.
The boy was transferred to Children’s Hospital in St. Paul and was found to have bleeding in his eyes, tearing of blood vessels on both sides of his brain and a severe brain injury that resulted in shrinking of the brain and a stroke.
Kelli Larson told police that two days earlier, the boy, identified in the complaint as “X.W.L.,” “wasn’t acting right.” She said her husband told her he might have rolled over the child in his sleep.
She added that she had left the boy with her husband on Sept. 8 and he called her that night and said that the boy had fallen off the bed, but appeared to be fine.
A doctor at Children’s Hospital later told investigators that the child’s injuries were not consistent with a fall from the bed or Larson rolling on top of the child.
When interviewed by investigators, Kenneth Larson said the child had rolled off the bed, striking his head and cheek.
“I didn’t hurt that child,” he told police. “I don’t beat my child. I don’t believe in child abuse.”
A pediatrician testified in a preliminary hearing the following October that the child’s injuries would lead to severe disability and possibly death.
Court records show Kelli Larson was charged in October 2007 with neglecting a child. She pleaded not guilty, and the charge was later dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion.
If convicted of the homicide charge, Kenneth Larson faces a sentence of up to 60 years. An initial appearance in his case is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Andy Rathbun can be reached at 651-228-2121. Follow him at twitter.com/andyrathbun.
