(WJET/WFXP) — The Jamestown, New York, man accused of causing the death of a 16-month-old child in April 2024 has pleaded guilty just as the trial was about to start, prosecutors announced Friday.
Matthew Nuttall, 27, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, the most serious of his charges, at his final pretrial conference on February 18, for causing the death of 16-month-old Isaac Benton by slamming him into a Pack ‘n Play.
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Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Nuttall’s guilty plea came as a surprise, as it was just six days before jury selection was set to begin for his trial.
Nuttall was arrested in April 2024 following the report of the suspicious death of a baby that had occurred two days before, where the cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, leading to an investigation and Nuttall’s arrest.
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In a statement, Chautauqua County DA Schmidt highlighted other crimes against children that resulted in their deaths, calling each case heart-wrenching, senseless and avoidable…