MILWAUKEE — A judge on Tuesday handed down a 12-year prison sentence to 22-year-old Jalin White after he admitted he threw his 8-month-old son against a wall inside their Milwaukee home during a burst of anger while losing a basketball video game. The shocking case has drawn attention both for its disturbing details and the tiny victim’s struggle to survive.
It was a normal November day in 2024 when White was left alone with his baby son, identified in court filings as JW, at a rented room on 42nd Street. The baby’s mother had briefly stepped out and expected to return to a healthy, happy child. Instead, she came home to a scene no parent should ever witness.
z
When White’s partner walked back inside, she found her son barely breathing and making strange, distressed noises in his playpen. His right arm seemed to be twitching uncontrollably. Alarmed and instinctively protective, she scooped up the infant and tried to leave, but White angrily demanded the baby back. The mother didn’t risk it — she ran to her own father and called 911.
Paramedics rushed the little boy to a nearby hospital where doctors uncovered terrifying injuries. Scans showed skull fractures, six broken ribs at varying stages of healing, and a fractured collarbone. The tiny infant was so hurt that he had to be placed on a breathing tube and, at one point, lost his pulse — doctors performed CPR multiple times to revive him.
In interviews with police, White initially offered a string of conflicting stories about how the baby was hurt. He first suggested the boy had fallen off an air mattress, later claimed the mother accidentally bumped his head, and even said the child fell while he changed a diaper. None of those explanations fit the severity of the injuries, detectives said.
Under mounting evidence, White eventually confessed. He told investigators he was playing the basketball video game NBA 2K, and when he fell behind by two points late in the game, he lost his temper. White admitted he had been holding the baby “to keep him calm,” but once frustrated by the game, he threw the infant against the wall and onto a nearby bed. He described hearing the impact of the child hitting the wall.
In court on December 30, White pleaded guilty to physical abuse of a child causing great bodily harm and child neglect causing great bodily harm. Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Anderson M. Gansner accepted his plea and ordered the 12-year prison term, to be followed by seven years of probation. The judge also barred White from ever using physical punishment on any child in his care.
Today, the infant survives but faces ongoing challenges. Prosecutors say he now deals with vision issues and depends on a feeding tube, requiring care from multiple specialists. White, through his attorney, expressed remorse and claimed he never intended to harm his son, saying in court he hopes to be a better father after serving his sentence.
