Prison Sentence For Apple Valley Dad Who Killed Newborn Announced

APPLE VALLEY, MN — Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced that Michael Anthony Herkal, 33, pled guilty Wednesday to murder in the second degree in connection with the death of his 13-day-old son Anthony Herkal in Apple Valley on Aug. 12, 2018.

Judge Kathyrn Messerich sentenced Herkal to 290 months — or over 24 years — in prison.

On Aug. 12, 2018, Apple Valley Police Department officers responded to a medical call that an infant was not breathing.

At the Apple Valley home, police were unable to detect a pulse and observed that the infant was turning purple.

Officers and paramedics began life saving measures and the infant was taken to Fairview Ridges Hospital, where it was determined that he was suffering from a skull fracture and bleeding on his brain. The infant was transferred to Children’s Masonic Hospital, where he ultimately died of these injuries on Aug. 14, 2018.

The infant’s mother told police she had left her newborn son with Michael Herkal after an argument earlier that day. She told police she started receiving texts from Herkal at approximately 6:30 p.m. that the infant would not stop crying and needed her.

Herkal initially told police that his toddler had pulled the infant off the couch on two separate occasions. Later Herkal changed his story and told investigators that the infant slipped out of his hands and fell onto a coffee table during a diaper change, police said.

During the plea hearing, Herkal admitted that he also slapped and violently shook the newborn. A forensic examination of Herkal’s cell phone revealed that Google searches were conducted around one hour and twenty minutes prior to the 911 call, which included:

• "someone threw a baby on the floor"
• "baby breathing hard"
• "noisy baby breathing: what’s normal and what’s not"
• "babys butt is blue s[p]anking."

Initial charges of felony assault and malicious punishment of a child were filed against Michael Herkal on Aug. 14, 2018, according to a news release.

After the infant died of his injuries and the autopsy report was received by the county attorney, three additional charges of murder were filed on Aug. 23, 2018.

"We are pleased to have held Michael Herkal responsible for his role in this violent and tragic case that claimed the life of this helpless infant," Backstrom said in a statement.

"Our sympathy is extended to the family for their great loss."