Despite accepting a guilty plea, a Harrisburg man who is imprisoned for the killing of his young son insists he is innocent.
The window of opportunity to have his sentence commuted is closing.
“It was almost my last-ditch effort to try to get his attention before he leaves office,” Tom Imschweiler’s wife, Laura stated.
She wrote a letter to North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, who steps down on January 1, in what she is referring to as a last-minute Hail Mary.
Cooper is urged in the passionate letter to commute her husband’s sentence, who is incarcerated in North Carolina at the moment.
The young couple went to the beach in Corolla, North Carolina, in July 2018 with their 5-month-old baby, Franklin.
While he walked into the kitchen to fix a bottle in the middle of the night, Tom Imschweiler claimed to have propped the infant up on the couch.
Imschweiler reported that Franklin was lying face down on the couch when he got back. There was no breathing in the infant.
A few days later, Franklin passed away. After investigators classified it as an instance of shaken baby syndrome, Imschweiler was charged with criminal child abuse.
In support of their claim that it was a terrible accident, Imschweiler’s defense team called for testimony from medical professionals.
“I concluded that Franklin passed away as the result of suffocation. That is an accidental death,” Dr. Mary Gilliland stated.
The pathologist reported that the three symptoms of shaken baby syndrome can also result from unintentional asphyxia. A tough decision had to be taken when prosecutors chose to forward with their case.
“I couldn’t put my life in the hands of 10 to 12 jurors,” Imschweiler stated earlier this year. “You know, even if I had a 90% chance of winning, what about that 10%? That 10%, I can’t risk. I can’t risk that.”
He chose to enter what is known as an Alford plea rather than run the danger of being found guilty and facing life in prison. While acknowledging that the state could have sufficient evidence to indict him, it permits him to maintain his innocence.
He is currently beginning the fourth year of a voluntary manslaughter sentence that ranges from five to seven years. He can only be released from prison if his sentence is commuted or he is pardoned.
A change.org petition with over 38,000 signatures has urged the governor to commute Imschweiler’s sentence.
Emilia, Imschweiler’s 3-year-old daughter, was born shortly after his incarceration.
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“He just wants to be home with Emilia. He wants her to just run into his arms. He just wants to be a dad,” Laura Imschweiler stated.
During his eight years in office, Cooper has granted 23 pardons and 20 commutations, including six this month.
