Kashawn Butler leaves the Luzerne County Courthouse on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in death of his biological son, Sincere Butler, who was renamed Isaiah J. Pentz by his adoptive parents before he died. Butler was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — The biological father of Sincere Butler, who died in 2019 from injuries caused by being violently shaken eight years earlier, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder during an emotional hearing before Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough on Tuesday.
Kashawn Butler, 29, was immediately sentenced to 15 to 30 years in state prison but was given credit for 3,271 days time served after he pled no contest to aggravated assault charges filed when he permanently injured the boy.
While serving his sentence on the aggravated assault case, Butler in 2017 surrendered his parental rights to the boy, who was adopted by the Pentz family and renamed Isaiah J. Pentz.
There were no dry eyes when the adopted mother, Maureen Pentz, spoke about the love her family provided to Isaiah. She recalled his last Christmas when Isaiah’s eyes focused on Christmas lights. She described it as a “once in a lifetime moment.”
Isaiah was three months old when Butler violently shook the infant inside his Old River Road apartment in Wilkes-Barre on Dec. 4, 2011. The boy was in a vegetative state for nearly eight years and was kept alive by a tracheotomy tube, a urine disposal tube and a feeding tube until he died at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh on June 15, 2019.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Abdulrezak Shakir testified during a previous court proceeding that the child’s brain was one-third of the size of a normal 8-year-old. Isaiah died as a result of pneumonia and seizure disorder due to complications of traumatic brain injuries sustained by being shaken years earlier, Shakir previously stated.
Butler did not challenge charges of aggravated assault in 2011 and served nearly six years of a five-to-10 year sentence. After Isaiah died, Butler was charged with criminal homicide until a plea agreement was accepted by Vough.
Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino, who prosecuted along with Assistant District Attorney Shana Messinger, said the case was one of the most traumatic and emotional he has ever prosecuted in his two decade career.
Many in the courtroom Tuesday couldn’t help but sob and cry when Maureen Pentz tearfully spoke about Isaiah.
“One thing not taken away from Isaiah is the ability to love,” Maureen Pentz said. “We know we will once again see our son completely restored and not how he was on earth.”
Vough credited Pentz and her family for providing the love Isaiah and every child needs.
“I’m not a bad person; I’m really not,” Butler said directing his comments to Pentz. “I wasn’t abusing him. I fed him, I wish I could take that back. I wish it was me, I’m sorry.”
Butler said he was 18 years old when Isaiah was born.
“You were 18? Too young to have a child, too young to care for a child,” Vough said.
Isaiah died several months before his eighth birthday.
A park in Western Pennsylvania where his adoptive parents took Isaiah was re-built to include play equipment for children with disabilities and challenges.
Butler was represented by attorneys Thomas M. Marsilio and Daniel Keith Hunter.