An account of a father from Harrisburg who was imprisoned for the death of his baby son.
He maintains his innocence even after entering a guilty plea.
The window of opportunity for him to commute his sentence is closing.
Tom Imschweiler’s wife Laura characterized it as her last effort to get his attention before he quits the office.
She wrote a letter to Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, who is leaving office on January 1, in what she describes as a last-minute Hail Mary.
Cooper is urged in the impassioned letter to commute her husband’s sentence, who is incarcerated in North Carolina.
The young couple visited the beach in Corolla, North Carolina, in July 2018 with their 5-month-old baby, Franklin.
According to Tom Imschweiler, he went into the kitchen to fix a bottle in the middle of the night and propped the infant up on the couch.
Imschweiler came back to see Franklin lying face down on the couch. The infant was not breathing.
A few days later, Franklin passed away. When investigators concluded it was shaken infant syndrome, they accused Imschweiler with felony child abuse.
Medical professionals testified that it was a terrible accident, as stated by Imschweiler’s defense team.
I came to the conclusion that Franklin suffocated to death. “That is an accidental death,” said Dr. Mary Gilliland.
The pathologist reported that the three symptoms of shaken baby syndrome can also be caused by unintentional asphyxia.
When deciding whether to proceed with their case, prosecutors had a challenging choice.
Earlier this year, Imschweiler told News 8 that he couldn’t trust ten or twelve jurors with his life. What about the 10%, even if my chances of winning were 90%? I can’t take that ten percent chance. I can’t take the chance.
He accepted an Alford plea rather than being found guilty and faced life in jail. While admitting that the state might have enough evidence to indict him, it enables him to maintain his innocence.
He is currently in 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 mitigated or pardoned.
A Change.org petition with over 38,000 signatures has urged the governor to commute Imschweiler’s sentence.
Shortly after being sentenced to prison, Imschweiler gave birth to his daughter, Emilia, who is now three years old.
All he wants is to be with Emilia at home. All he wants is for her to leap into his arms. Laura Imschweiler clarified that all he wants is to become a father.
To find out the status of Imschweiler’s appeal for mercy, News 8 On Your Side got in touch with the governor’s office.
The answer was one sentence: Every clemency petition is carefully examined by the Governor’s Office, which includes the Offices of Executive Clemency and General Counsel.
During his eight years in office, Cooper has issued 23 pardons and 20 commutations, including six this month.
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