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• Star Prairie man sentenced to 9 years in baby's death

A Star Prairie man convicted of second-degree reckless homicide in the death of his 13-week-old daughter has been sentenced.

Joshua Alan Schaak, 22, will serve nine in prison and nine months extended supervision following a sentencing hearing Thursday afternoon in St. Croix County Circuit Court before Judge Scott Needham.

The courtroom was filled with emotion as members of Schaak's family sat on one side, pleading for a lighter sentence and the baby's mother, Jessica L. Sherwood, 20, sat on the other side of the room asking for a stiffer sentence.

Schaak pleaded no contest to the single felony count Jan. 16 and was found guilty. He has been held in the St. Croix County Jail on $200,000 cash bail.

He was charged in connection with the death of his daughter London Dec. 4 at Children's Hospital in St. Paul.

The criminal complaint said a Ramsey County, Minn. medical examiner ruled the cause of death as child abuse. An autopsy revealed face, neck and head injuries and healing rib fractures on the infant.

Schaak was the primary and only caregiver for the child. The mother, Sherwood, dropped the child off with shack last November after a DNA test proved he was the father.

On Dec. 2, emergency personnel were called to Schaak's Star Prairie residence to attend to a child who had stopped breathing.

During a sheriff's investigation Schaak admitted he had become frustrated, shook the baby forcefully and hit her head against a wall.