ROCHESTER, Minn. – An Eyota teenager was sentenced to 10 years in prison for smothering his 5-year-old brother to death. Kaleb Smith, now 18, was 17 at the time. Smith had pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter charge through a plea agreement. Dismissed in the agreement were second-degree murder and felony domestic assault charges. Originally the case was in juvenile court but recently transferred to adult court.
What happened
The criminal complaint: Five-year-old Alex had been sent to his room for acting up. The mother left briefly. The older Kaleb Smith went to his brother’s room and covered his little brother’s mouth and pinched his nose until he became unresponsive – somewhere between one and two minutes. The mother called 911 as soon as she got home. The 5-year-old was rushed to a Rochester hospital. His brain swelled because of oxygen deprivation, he was already dead.
Smith. Sentence could have been 15 years on manslaughter charge.