Stoneham man gets 15-year sentence in death of son linked to shaking as an infant

By Sarah N. Mattero, Globe Correspondent

A Stoneham man was sentenced Friday to 15 years in state prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter for shaking his son so violently as an infant that it left him in a vegetative state until the child died nine years later.

Brian Saucier, 42, entered the plea in Middlesesex Superior Court, where he was initially charged with first-degree murder. Saucier admitted that on Sept. 19, 2002, he repeatedly shook his son, who was then 6 weeks old, an act that caused catastrophic injuries to the child.

According to Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr., the child was left in “a vegetative state, unable to sit, stand, walk, hold his head up, control his extremities, swallow, or talk.’’

The child died May 1, 2011 as a result of those injuries, prosecutors said.

Saucier was previously prosecuted for assaulting the child and sentenced to state prison, but will now begin serving the additional 15-year manslaughter sentence.