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FARMINGTON — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for a Layton man accused of brutally beating his girlfriend's 2-year-old son, killing the boy in a fit of frustration.
Joshua Schoenenberger, 35, is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, in the toddler's May 2015 death. The Davis County Attorney's Office let Friday's deadline expire without declaring an intent to seek the death penalty in the case, prosecutor Susan Hunt confirmed.
Under Utah's "Shelby's Law," capital punishment is a potential sentence in cases where a child's death results from abuse.
James "JJ" Sieger Jr. was taken off life support two days after being taken to the hospital on May 9, 2015, his body succumbing to extensive injuries, including tearing in his colon, damage in his abdomen, deep bruising, head trauma and other injuries.
After a series of changing narratives by himself and JJ's mother, Jasmine Bridgeman, Schoenenberger told police he had lashed out at the boy as he struggled with potty training, violently squeezing, dropping and stepping on the boy, court documents state.
Bridgeman, 24, pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, for lying to doctors and police about how her son sustained the injuries that killed him. She was sentenced in April to one to 15 years in prison.
Schoenenberger is scheduled to return to court June 27.
