Jury Convicts Minnesota Man on 20 Counts for Toddler’s Murder
Mankato, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Blue Earth County Jury returned a guilty verdict on more than 20 charges against a Mankato man in connection with the death of a toddler over two years ago.
18-year-old Lee Wayne Young Jr. was accused of sexually assaulting and beating a 2-year-old boy to death in April of 2021. At that time, a news release from the City of Mankato says officers and emergency responders were sent to a Mankato residence in the late afternoon of April 16th after receiving a report of a medical incident.
The two-year-old child was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. Young, who was 16 at the time of the child’s death, was originally booked into a secured juvenile facility on a second-degree murder charge.
Blue Earth County Court records indicate a grand jury indicted Young on 25 charges in August of 2021, several of which fell under Minnesota’s first-degree murder statute. Two of the murder charges, along with a kidnapping charge were dismissed prior to the verdict, according to court records.
First-degree murder and first-degree criminal sexual conduct were among the convictions returned in the jury's guilty verdict on Wednesday. Young Jr. is set to be sentenced in June.
