Man convicted of killing baby to be resentenced

Associated Press - November 27, 2009 12:54 PM ET

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled a man convicted of shaking his 6-month-old daughter to death must be resentenced.

Jared York was convicted of child endangerment with bodily injury and involuntary manslaughter by public offense. He was sentenced in 2005 to the maximum on both counts for a total of 10 years in prison.

Under Iowa law, a defendant can be convicted of either a public offense charge or an included lesser offense, but not both. The public offense in York's case was child endangerment. The court ruled this week it was impossible to commit the greater offense of involuntary manslaughter by child endangerment without also committing the lesser offense of child endangerment.

The court said the two offenses would merge and there's no clear indication the Legislature intended cumulative punishments, as was given in York's case.

Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/