Deer River man enters guilty plea in child's death in Itasca County

According to a release from the Itasca County Attorney's Office, Kevin Daniel Jackson, 29, was charged after emergency workers responded to a call to a home in Inger, Minn., on Aug. 21. The 4-year-old was nonresponsive and efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Jackson pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree unintentional murder and according to the plea agreement negotiated by the Itasca County Attorney’s Office, he is expected to receive 180 months in prison.

The child’s uncle told police that at 5 p.m. Aug. 21 he heard the child’s mother screaming at Jackson and asking him what happened. Jackson was sitting on the floor and “acting weird and screaming” and then left the house. Deputies found Jackson sitting on a trampoline behind a neighboring residence.

The medical examiner found bleeding and cuts on the child’s eyes, face and nose and bruising on his neck. Medical personnel on the scene said the child might have died by suffocation.

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Jackson has a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for theft, assault and domestic assault. He was on probation for a 2015 drug offense at the time of the murder.

Inger is 57 miles northeast of Bemidji.