A father will spend 24 to 50 years in prison in the starvation death of his 2-year-old son last year in Macomb County.
Jonathon Matthew Cheek, 26, was sentenced Wednesday in Macomb County Circuit Court. He pleaded no contest Oct. 21 to second-degree murder and second-degree child abuse, the county prosecutor’s office announced Wednesday.
Messages were left for his attorney, who could not be immediately reached Wednesday.
The boy was found dead in his crib by his parents on March 16, 2023, in Clinton Township, according to the prosecutor’s office. They indicated the medical examiner determined the boy’s cause of death was starvation.
“This is a heartbreaking and profoundly sad case,” Prosecutor Peter Lucido said in his office’s release. “A 2-year-old child, full of potential and deserving of love and care, was failed in the most devastating way. No sentence can bring back this innocent life, but hopefully the family can begin to heal.”
Circuit Judge Edward Servitto, who is retiring at the end of the year after 24 years on the bench, sentenced Cheek to 24-50 years in prison on the second-degree murder charge and 86 months to 10 years in prison on the second-degree child abuse charge.
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The prosecutor and Cheek agreed to the sentence of 24-50 years, according to court records and the prosecutor’s office. Servitto gave Cheek credit for 643 days served in jail, according to court records.
The boy’s mother, Sierra Pearl Zaitona, 28, faces the same two charges as Cheek. Her final pretrial hearing is set for March 17, with an April 1 trial date in the circuit court, according to court records.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @challreporter.
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