Jessica logan’s Story

Case Overview

Jessica awoke in the early morning hours of October 7th, 2019 to give her son Jayden a nebulizer treatment. Upon entering his room, she found him face-down in bed, tangled in bed sheets. She picked him up but he was cold and stiff. Jessica called her mother-in-law for help who immediately told her to hang up and call 911. Jayden was pronounced dead at 4:01am.

A medical examiner opined that Jayden died from intentional suffocation. Other evidence used to convict Jessica consisted of a 911 call analysis and a Google search. Prosecutors used the fact that Jessica had a life insurance policy on Jayden against her, even though she never collected the money. 

She was sentenced to 33 years plus three years of supervised release in Illinois. Jessica’s case made headlines in 2022 when journalist Brett Murphy wrote an in-depth article on her case, highlighting the issues surrounding 911 call analysis. The article, “How Jessica Logan’s Call for Help Became Evidence Against Her” published in ProPublica, went on to win a George Polk Award. 

Our Role

Shortly after her conviction, advocates for Jessica reached out to us to ask us to take her case. After her initial appeals were completed, we signed on as her legal counsel for post-conviction proceedings.

We were able to bring in the Exoneration Project as co-counsel and in February, 2025, CIFS submitted a post-conviction petition with Josh Tepfer and Annie Prossnitz. This petition highlights the underlying health concerns of Jayden at the time of his death and argues that Jessica had ineffective assistance of counsel.

The case is still pending.