Charges Dropped Against Minnesota Father in Baby Suffocation

BLOOMING PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) - Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a southern Minnesota man accused of falling asleep on a couch after a day of drinking and suffocating his 8-week-old son.

Last week the Steele County Attorney's office dropped manslaughter and child endangerment charges against 31-year-old Cory Stucky of Blooming Prairie.

Stucky was charged in the July 2015 death of his infant son, Myles Stucky. The boy's mother initially told investigators she found the baby face-down on a couch under Stucky's arm, the day after Stucky had drunk 24 beers.

Reports say in dismissing the charges, County Attorney Daniel McIntosh wrote that the baby's mother later married Stucky and told authorities she had "exaggerated" his intoxication.

McIntosh says prosecutors believe the marriage may have been "the product of manipulation" by Stucky. But Stucky's attorney, Bruce Rivers, challenges that contention.