University City man sentenced to 10 years for fatal abuse of 7-week-old daughter

A gavel File photo courtesy of UC Berkeley Law A University City man who pleaded guilty to inflicting fatal injuries on his -week-old daughter was sentenced Monday to years in state prison Jaime Santillanes pleaded guilty to felony child abuse for the March death of Genevieve Santillanes The child died at a hospital three days after police were called to the family s University City home Officers responded on the night of March for a overview of a baby who had stopped breathing Santillanes who was initially charged with murder and assault was arrested following a police inspection in which the San Diego Police Department consulted with curative personnel who have specialized in training in child-abuse related injuries to determine exactly what occurred SDPD Lt Steve Shebloski noted The child abuse count Santillanes pleaded guilty to indicates the child s injuries occurred under circumstances or conditions likely to produce great bodily harm or death He also admitted to an allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on a child under years old At a preliminary hearing held last year SDPD Sgt Mark Sullivan testified that Santillanes notified police he was sitting on a couch and holding the child while feeding her He reported that at several point he fell asleep while still holding the child and woke up after falling to the ground with his entire body weight falling onto the baby Sullivan testified Dr Mallory McPhee a pediatrician who helps conducts assessments at Rady Children s Hospital of accomplishable child abuse cases testified that she examined the child s injuries McPhee mentioned the explanation Santillanes provided was inconsistent with the injuries the child sustained which included multiple skull fractures The professional explained she could not opine on how exactly the baby sustained her injuries but testified that due the severity of the injuries I would have expected something extremely traumatic to have occurred like a fall from several stories a very considerable car accident various sort of situation that had extreme forces present Defense attorney Brian Watkins disagreed with McPhee s conclusion and argued it was a leap to find the injuries were sustained in a non-accidental manner Watkins noted the medical professional s concession that she didn t know how exactly the injuries occurred Deputy District Attorney Erin Casey argued that child abuse cases rarely have onlookers who can shed light on how exactly such injuries are inflicted but the physician s expertise informed her opinion that Santillanes explanation was implausible City News Provision contributed to this article