HOULTON, Maine – A Fort Fairfield man will serve four years in prison for manslaughter after exposing his infant son to an illegal drug which led to the child’s death.
Stanley Hazell, 25, was sentenced to 12 years, all but four suspended with six years probation, by Justice Stephen Nelson in Aroostook County Superior Court in Houlton on Wednesday.
Hazell pleaded guilty on Nov. 25 to manslaughter in the 2022 death of 7-month-old Jackson Hazell.
“The court has a heavy burden when it relates to sentencing. That burden is nothing compared to a family impacted by such senseless acts and what you have to endure,” Nelson said.
Hazell dropped fentanyl into Jackson’s crib or pack’n play, according to Nelson.
“Bringing the drugs into the home is bad enough but to allow them to drop into the reach of little Jackson is simply beyond the pale,” Nelson said. “What Mr. Hazell has taken from this family and the community is simply something that cannot be replaced. The victim impact in this case is massive.”
During the sentencing hearing, Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said that Hazell exposed Jackson to lethal amounts of illegal fentanyl and that the infant had died within minutes of swallowing the drug.
“Stanley Hazell is the person who should have protected his son but he intentionally brought this poison into the home that he shared with his wife and son,” Robbin said. “He continued to use fentanyl even after he had an overdose scare about six weeks before Jackson’s death.”
Prior to Jackson’s death, Hazell’s wife and Jackson’s mother, Julia Maguire, told Hazell he had to choose between fentanyl and living with them, according to Robbin.
“When Stanley and his mother convinced her [Maguire] that Stanley was now clean, she let him back into the apartment in Fort Fairfield, the next day Jackson was dead,” she said.
In recommending sentencing – 12 years, all but four suspended with six years probation – Robbin pointed to the Mariah Dobbins case. Dobbins pleaded guilty in the same court to manslaughter in the 2022 death of her 14-month-old son Jaden Raymond who also died of the toxic effects of fentanyl.
The facts and circumstances are so similar between the two cases that the joint sentencing recommendation between the state and the defense mirrors Dobbins’ sentence, Robbin said.
Before Nelson sentenced Hazell, Maguire told the court that the day she gave birth to Jackson was the most magical day of her life.
“Seven months, three weeks and two days later was the absolutely worst day of my entire life,” she said. “On April 8, 2022 I lost my first born child. I will never forget the sight of my son’s cold, limp body or having to perform CPR with no success.”
She said she misses his infectious laugh and beautiful smile.
“I miss everything, I miss my baby boy,” she said.
Jackson Hazell’s death was ruled a homicide by the Maine State Medical Examiner.
Hazell was arrested in November 2023 in Caribou, following a year-long investigation by Maine State Police. He was indicted on one count of manslaughter and initially pleaded not guilty in a February hearing.
As part of his sentence Hazell is barred from any contact with Maguire and her family and he cannot have any contact with any child under the age of six years.
Hazell was ordered into the custody of the Department of Corrections.
