The charges against a man accused of killing a 10-month-old in Canyon City, Colorado, were dropped on Wednesday.

Fremont County District Court Judge Kaitlin Turner filed the order granting the dismissal regarding the case involving the infant, identified as Edward Hayes, the Canyon City Daily Record reported Friday.

The accused man in the case, 22-year-old William Jacobs, lived in a motel room with the baby and his mother, 21-year-old Brook Crawford. In May 2023, law enforcement arrested Jacobs on a first-degree murder charge.

A photo shows Jacobs:

Hayes’ cause of death was ruled as blunt-force head trauma after he was found unresponsive in the motel room. When officials interviewed Jacobs following the baby’s death, he reportedly changed his story several times but told investigators that at one point while he was caring for him, his body went stiff and he began making gargling sounds.

It is important to note that Crawford had left the baby with Jacobs to go to work when the incident happened, according to a KRDO report on May 23, 2023:

Jacobs also reportedly said he hit the infant’s head on a doorframe when he took him to the restroom to vomit into the toilet.

However, “According to testimony during a December preliminary hearing, Edward’s head trauma was non-accidental based on the severity of the injuries and the pattern of the injuries,” the Daily Record article revealed.

The man’s public defenders filed a motion to have the case dropped due to alleged actions by 11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley during a setting conference, the outlet continued:

“KRDO reporter Sean Rice and his cameraman attended this setting conference and approached DA Stanley following the hearing to request an interview,” the motion to grant dismissal states. “DA Stanley agreed to an interview right after the setting conference, and Mr. Rice and the cameraman were escorted into the District Attorney’s Office inside the Fremont County Courthouse. Portions of this interview were first aired on news station KRDO on that same day, July 12, 2023.”

Stanley told the reporter regarding Jacobs, “Without the caring factor, without the love factor, then it’s, the (boy) is a pain in the (censored). … I mean I am going to be very blunt here,” she said. “He has zero investment in this, zero. He is watching (Edward) so he can get laid, that’s it. And to have a place to sleep. I’m sorry to be that blunt, but honest to God, that’s what going on.”

Stanley’s comments were argued to be an effort to weaponize the press against the two suspects in the case, according to public defender Jake Taufer. However, Stanley has contended that she thought she was speaking off the record at the time.

Police arrested Crawford on charges of suspicion of child abuse and neglecting a child resulting in death in June 2023, KRDO reported:

However, she was eventually released without paying cash bond. The Daily Record later reported the charges against the mother had been dismissed via a written order.