Douglasville Man Gets 25 Years for Assault on 10-Month-Old

Jesse James Hawkins, 22, of Douglasville was sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to charges involving the sexual assault of a 10-month-old girl, the Paulding County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Hawkins entered pleas to aggravated sexual battery, aggravated battery, first-degree cruelty to children and second-degree cruelty to children. Under a plea agreement, he received a life sentence with the first 25 years served in confinement, plus sex offender supervision requirements. Prosecutors said Georgia law requires Hawkins to serve every day of the 25-year term.

The charges came from a Paulding County Sheriff's Office investigation opened in March 2025. The case began after the infant was treated at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where her mother had brought her. Investigators determined Hawkins, the mother's boyfriend, had sexually assaulted the child with an unknown object, and he was arrested.

District Attorney Robert S. Lane said in a statement that no sentence can undo the harm the child suffered, and that the sentence ensures the defendant will spend decades behind bars for his actions.