WOBURN, Mass. - A Stoneham man has pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in connection with the death of his son 8-year-old son.
Brian Saucier, 42, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Friday in connection with the May 2011 death.
The Middlesex District Attorney's Office said that in September 2002, police responded to Saucier's apartment on Franklin Street in Woburn for the report of a 6-week-old baby that had stopped breathing. When police arrived they found Saucier's son limp and unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome.
When he was released from the hospital, the child was left in a vegetative state and lived for 8 years. He died on May 1, 2011.
A medical examiner ruled that the child died from complications of shaking injuries to the head and neck and the manner of death was homicide.
Saucier was charged with murder in August 2011 and was held without bail. On August 10, 2012, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.