Juneau man pleads guilty to 2024 murder of 5 1/2-week-old girl in motel room
- Mark Sabbatini
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
James White, 45, charged after child’s skull fractured while three other siblings were also present
A Juneau man pleaded guilty Monday to the second-degree murder of a 5 1/2-week-old girl who died of a skull fracture in a motel room in April of 2024, according to court officials.
James White, 45, entered the plea in Juneau Superior Court and faces a maximum sentence of 40 years of active jail time, according to a press release issued Monday by the Alaska Department of Law. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 19. Court records state a doctor compared the baby’s injuries to “an impact where an adult care giver grabs the infant by the midsection and slams it to the ground.”
Three other siblings in White’s care — ages 2, 5 and 12 at the time — were also in the two-room suite at roughly 5 p.m. when the infant was found not breathing, according to the court’s case file.
The oldest child told Juneau Police Department officers that White and the infant were in the separate bedroom, and “she could hear (the infant) crying and James White trying to calm her. She said she heard (the infant) go quiet,” according to the complaint.
Police and firefighters responded to a report at about 5:35 p.m. the infant wasn’t breathing. The infant received CPR at the scene and was transported by Capital City Fire/Rescue responders to Bartlett Regional Hospital. The infant was pronounced dead at about 8:37 p.m. and an autopsy released two days later by the State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage classified the cause of death as a homicide due to a blunt force injury to the head.
But despite the autopsy findings there wasn’t enough probable cause to arrest White for the infant’s death since possibilities other than intentional harm still needed to be investigated, JPD Deputy Chief Krag Campbell told the Juneau Empire last November. Sufficient cause was established that month, with White arrested on a charge of second-degree murder.
He was additionally charged by prosecutors with manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and unlawful contact, but those charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement, according to the Department of Law press release. White also pleaded guilty in a separate case to fourth-degree assault against his wife in November of 2024.
"The agreement between the parties permits the court to sentence White to a sentence between 20 years and 99 years, with a maximum of 40 years of active jail time to serve," the press release states. "White is not entitled to bail prior to sentencing and will remain in the custody of the Alaska Department of Corrections."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
