EVANSTON — The Mountain View teen – Jesse J. Hartley – convicted last month of first-degree murder has been sentenced to life in prison.

Hartley, 19, appeared in Third District Court the morning of Tuesday, June 4, for sentencing after his conviction on both the murder charge and aggravated child abuse following a four-day jury trial in early May.

Hartley was arrested in May 2018 after the death of 2-year-old Brandon Green, who was the son of Hartley’s then-girlfriend, Shannon Sherman. During trial, testimony from Dr. Bird Gilmartin, who was called to the emergency room at Evanston Regional Hospital when Green was brought in on May 1, 2018, pointed to severe and extensive injuries that weren’t consistent with Hartley’s report that Green was found face down in a bathtub.

The medical examiner who conducted the postmortem examination, Dr. Thomas Bennett, testified the child’s cause of death was abusive head trauma consistent with violent, repetitive shaking.

During the sentencing hearing, Sherman addressed the court and said she will be forever haunted by not only the loss of her son but also because, even after the testimony during trial, “I will never know exactly what happened.” Through her tears, she said she sometimes wished for her little boy to haunt her to give her some insight into what happened that fateful day when she had entrusted her child to the care of her boyfriend.

Sherman acknowledged that no sentence imposed by the court could bring her son back, but said Hartley had shown no remorse when arrested for the boy’s murder and he deserved whatever punishment the court imposed.

Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson-Kallas said the case is undoubtedly a tragic one, as not only did Hartley take the life of a 2-year-old child but also effectively claimed his own life after being convicted of murder at only 19 years of age. Howieson-Kallas said Hartley’s young age — he was only 18 at the time of his arrest — resulted in the State declining to pursue the death penalty, as would be allowed under Wyoming law for a first-degree murder conviction.

Ultimately, Justice Joe Bluemel opted for life in prison with the possibility of parole and said he saw no reason to compound the tragedy of the case. Bluemel also sentenced Hartley to 18 to 25 years in prison for the aggravated child abuse conviction, to run concurrently with the life sentence. He was given credit for the 400 days already served in the Uinta County Jail.

In addition, Hartley was ordered to pay just over $4,000 in legal fees for Brown’s services and approximately $6,800 in restitution for medical bills and funeral expenses related to Green’s death. Bluemel said Hartley would have the possibility to work and pay those expenses, although Phillips argued his client should be declared indigent and incapable of paying given his incarceration.

Hartley was remanded to the custody of the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office for transfer to the Wyoming State Penitentiary.