Wisconsin – In a shocking case in Wisconsin that left a community stunned, a 22-year-old father, identified as J. White, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after admitting to violently hurling his 8-month-old son against a wall in a fit of rage brought on by a video game. The father pleaded guilty to two felony counts—physical abuse of a child causing great bodily harm and neglect of a child resulting in great bodily harm.
The charges stem from a brutal incident that took place on November 5, 2024, inside a shared family residence. Prosecutors described how White, while playing the video game, lost his temper during a close match and took that anger out on the child in his arms. According to investigators, White was alone with the infant while the child’s mother briefly left the house. When she returned, she found her baby in distress, twitching and struggling to breathe in his playpen. Despite White’s angry demands to hand over the baby, she rushed the boy to her father, who immediately urged her to call 911.
Emergency responders rushed the infant to the hospital, where medical teams worked to save his life. The infant had suffered skull fractures, six broken ribs, and a healing collarbone fracture—injuries that initially left doctors fearing he would not survive. At one point, the child lost his pulse and required multiple rounds of CPR, but against expectations, he pulled through.
When confronted by investigators, White offered conflicting stories. At first, he claimed the boy fell from an air mattress onto the carpet. Later, he said he dropped the child while standing. But none of the explanations fit the severity of the injuries. Detectives pressed further until White finally broke down and confessed. He admitted he had been trying to “keep him chill for a little bit” while playing the video game but became frustrated over the score. He told police that, as the boy grew heavy in his arms, he threw him—striking the wall about a foot above the bed before the infant landed face-first.
White emphasized the force of the impact, saying, “My son hit his head on the wall. He hit his head hard on the wall, bro. I swear he hit his head hard on the wall…I heard the wall, it was hard on his head. It was hard. It was a loud hard wall.” In a courtroom packed with emotion, the judge handed down a 12-year prison sentence—slightly below the 14 years sought by prosecutors. White received nine years for the child abuse charge and three years for child neglect, followed by seven years of supervised probation.
He was credited with over 400 days already served in pretrial custody. As part of his sentence, White must undergo parenting and anger management programs. The judge also prohibited him from ever using corporal punishment on any child. Despite the unimaginable trauma he suffered, the infant survived. Prosecutors confirmed that the child’s condition had improved, offering a glimmer of hope in an otherwise deeply tragic case.
